Don't Believe In Romance
by Bored-ism
Summary: She held my hand, He thought, but immediately gagged. Why do I even care! - Itachi is selected by a powerful feudal lord to give extra lessons to his less than talented daughter, Meri. At first, Itachi despises Meri, but, she beings to grow on him...
1. Meri

Itachi Uchiha didn't believe in girlfriends. The word girlfriend was simply an idiotic title given to one who wished to feel important to somebody they cared about. This so called 'girlfriend' was to be lathered and showered in love, gifts, money, numerous material things that supposedly made people happy. It was all complete nonsense.

Or, more simply put, Itachi Uchiha never HAD a girlfriend. It wasn't that he was rude enough, or ugly enough to be whispered about behind his back by numerous females, it was that he never wanted one. Quiet, handsome, mysterious, powerful – all the qualities he had caused women to stare and/or drool every time he passed. They followed him constantly, each attempting to catch his attention, striking poses that they hoped would post them in the best light, flinging knowing glances in his direction. Naturally, he ignored them, walking by as if they were nonexistent, invisible to him, leaving their tearstained faces and broken hearts behind him. Did he care? No.

Itachi Uchiha never had, or ever wanted, a girlfriend.

Itachi Uchiha twirled the kunai on one of his fingers, focusing hard on a target one hundred yards away. For any normal ninja, hitting the target would be a long shot, but this was Itachi Uchiha – and he was no normal ninja. Focusing on a certain point, he raised the kunai and brought his arm back, ready to throw….his eyes did not move, every sense in his body was focusing on that one red ring on the target….not a muscle in his body twitched…he didn't dare breathe….any disturbance now would make him miss the target, causing him to start all over again. He brought his arm back even further, and began to whip his arm forward, releasing the kunai when –

"Um…hi?" said a small voice from behind him, and Itachi's focus was broken. His arm turned in the wrong direction and the kunai wobbled, hitting a nearby tree. Expecting this newcomer to be his little brother, Sasuke, he whirled around with a look of pure rage on his face. When he saw that this was indeed not Sasuke, Itachi's face went blank.

"Hi…" The girl repeated. She was about Itachi's height, but just a little shorter. She had shoulder length glossy brown hair, and bright blue inquisitive eyes. Any male would have agreed that she was exceptionally beautiful…but Itachi Uchiha didn't believe in girlfriends.

"Um…" said the girl, she sounded extremely nervous. "Hokage-sama wishes to see the two of us in his office."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. His father warned him always to be on his guard, and he highly doubted that this was some kind of trap, and even if it was, Itachi would be ready for it.. He gave a quick nod, and began to walk, the girl beside him.

"Who are you?" demanded Itachi, not exactly attempting to sound polite.

"I'm Meri Umeko." replied the girl.

Itachi stopped for a moment and stared at her.

"Meri Umeko?" asked Itachi. "As in – as in the daughter of the famous Konoha feudal lord, Kasumaru Umeko?"

Meri gave a bright smile.

"That's me!"

Itachi nodded curtly, thinking of the powerful and extremely wealthy figure that was Meri's father. Kasumaru Umeko – apart from being exceedingly rich – was also one of the cruelest, and most strict feudal lords that had ever ruled.

"What does the Hokage want us for?" asked Itachi as the two of them continued to walk down the busy streets of Konoha. Meri shrugged in response, yet Itachi had a general idea. A famous man with money and power no doubt wanted something to do with Itachi Uchiha. What it was, Itachi had no idea, and he wasn't exactly sure wether he wished to know or not. He glanced over at Meri. She was staring ahead as the two of them walked side by side down the busy noontime streets of Konoha, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly, giving the illusion that she was smirking. He looked away.

The two of them soon approached a large building in the middle of Konoha, Itachi stepping forward in front of Meri and reaching out, grabbing the cold metal handle of a tall wooden door that had been painted a forest green, pulling it open and stepping away, gesturing Meri inside without so much as an "after you," giving her a cold glance that she appeared not to have noticed. He followed after her, letting the door slam shut behind them and enclosing the pair in a dimly lit hallway. Meri strode happily along while Itachi followed behind her, wondering – disgusted at Meri - how on God's green earth, somebody could be this cheerful. Finally they stood in front of two doors not unlike the ones outside. Meri took a deep breath, and knocked three times. There was a slight pause, in which neither Meri nor Itachi moved. Finally, the voice of an old man called from inside the room,

"Come in."


	2. Briefing

Author's Note:

Though I would absolutely love to, I do not own Naruto, any of the other characters, and…yeah…all that…stuff.

Also, I forgot to mention something in the last chapter. This story is piggybacked onto another fanfic that I read, I'm basically writing a prologue to that story…If you want to read it, I'll give you the author's pen name in one of the later chapters (of course, one I receive permission from them). I can't give you it right now, because it would sort of give away the whole story.

Also – the timeline of Naruto in this story is sort of mixed up. Itachi is 18, though he has not yet murdered…everybody…Sasuke is six in this story, if any of you were wondering.

I'm sorry the chapters are so short, but that's how I roll. 8-)

Please, PLEASE R&R. I don't care if you're not the type of person who likes to reply, but I really, really, REALLY want your opinions, no matter how nasty. Reply, and be brutal.

Meri took a deep breath, closing her eyes and exhaling slowly.

_Open the damn door already._ thought Itachi, clearly agitated as he stared impatiently at Meri, whose eyes flickered open almost immediately as Itachi thought this. She breathed in yet again, and reached out a hand, pulling open the wooden doors and stepping inside.

It was a very large room, slightly oval shaped, with walls painted a color slightly lighter than sand. Like the hallways outside, this room was dimly lit, and gave off a cozy glow that some may have called eerie. It seemed slightly empty to Itachi, the walls were bare and the Hokage obviously did not enjoy numerous paintings and works of art hanging on the walls as his mother did. Two small sage green chairs stood facing the desk, and the Hokage smiled up at them from a large red velvet chair from behind it.

"Have a seat!" he called, gesturing to the small chairs. Meri sat down. Itachi did not.

"Well," began the Hokage cheerfully, beaming at both of them. Itachi was repulsed.

_Is this whole world happy ALL the time?_ He though, glancing down from the Hokage's friendly smile to Meri's playful grin. He looked back up at the Hokage.

"Well," repeated the Hokage. "You two both are exceptionally talented ninja."

Itachi did not look away from the Hokage, though out of the corner of his eye, he saw Meri's smile fade.

"Especially you, Itachi." the Hokage continued. "But even the best of ninja require extra help. Meri, your father has asked me to seek a skilled ninja to help you become even more powerful by giving you…lessons, let's call them. Of course, as you two can easily see, your father and I both agree that Itachi is more than acceptable for this task."

Neither Meri nor Itachi moved, they both stared at the Hokage, who was still smiling, repulsing Itachi….though, at least Meri was now frowning. Itachi cast a quick glance at her, wondering why she had a sudden change in attitude, yet as he looked back at the Hokage, his heart sank into his stomach.

_Private lessons with _her He thought, almost horrified. _I can't believe it. I'm supposed to sacrifice valuable training time giving lectures to a happy perky little girl?_

"Meri, you will be taking ninja tutoring lessons with Itachi whenever you feel they are acceptable. I'm sure you two can work out a schedule of some sort." the Hokage said, interrupting Itachi's thoughts. "Now, Meri, if you will excuse me, I'll need to speak to Itachi alone for…a few…minutes…" he sounded slightly uncomfortable as he finished the sentence, yet continued to smile. Meri nodded and stood up to leave, while Itachi mentally questioned the Hokage's sanity.

Itachi did not watch Meri as she left the room, frankly, he didn't ever want to see her face again. He'd barely spent ten minutes with her, and hardly talked at all, yet was already extremely disgusted by the fact that he'd have to help her _train._ He fought the urge to sigh. What was the world becoming?

Once Meri's footsteps had reached the other end of the room, Itachi heard the door creak open and close quietly. The Hokage's smile faded instantly, and he folded his hands under his chin, staring up at Itachi.

"Okay, let's cut the crap." he said, his tone suddenly harsher and much lower than it had been when Meri was in his presence. Itachi was taken aback by his sudden crudeness, but did not question it. He continued to stare at the Hokage with an expression he hoped to look like polite interest.

"Meri…" continued the Hokage, sighing. "Is one of the worst ninja Konoha has ever seen. Sure, she's got an almost limitless supply of chakra, and stamina to keep an entire army going for a month, but she couldn't tell one end of a kunai from another if her life depended on it."

"I see." said Itachi slowly, nodding.

"Lord Kasumaru has heard of you, Itachi, I doubt there's a person in the village who hasn't. Your powers could match and possibly defeat mine, I don't doubt it. He thinks that you are the last hope for his daughter, and trust me, he's… put…put a lot of money into—"

Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"I hope you are not leading to the fact that you have accepted a bribe, Hokage-sama?" asked Itachi quietly, sounding polite. The Hokage looked outraged.

"This is no bribe. He has simply paid me a large…amount…of money to find a tutor for his daughter."

"Politics."

"Exactly. You have to see this from my point of view, Itachi. I know, if I were you I wouldn't want to teach her either, but you've got no choice. This money could really help the village, supporting the schools, buying new imports—"

"I understand." Itachi cut in, yet the Hokage continued as though he had not heard Itachi.

"—could really help our economy. And frankly, Meri's embarrassing Konoha. Each time we send her on a mission, whether it is a simple delivery or an escort mission, she always seems to display her…let's just say _erroneous_ ninja skills. Of course, other ninja from outside villages seem to believe that Konoha's ninja……….well, suck."

The corner's of Itachi's mouth twitched slightly, though he did not smile. Never could one imagine such a formal leader using crude language as so.

"And, to top it all off, Kasumaru is threatening to sue the schools if you don't teach his daughter. He deems the school's system unsatisfactory for those who whish to become great ninja. And unfortunately with Kasumaru's power and wealth, there's no way any Hokage would ever be able to fish themselves out of a situation like that."

"I understand." he repeated, closing his eyes and bowing his head. The Hokage looked relieved.

"So you'll do it then?" he asked, the mournful look on his face lifting up, being replaced by a hopeful stare.

Itachi hesitated. He did not wish to take part of this in any way at all. As he thought before, he'd be sacrificing his own time to be teaching a stupid little girl numerous ninjutsu, combat skills, and weaponry skills that she could never possibly master. But he knew that there was no possible way out of this.

"You have my word." he finally said, bowing his head once more.


	3. Shuriken

Itachi left the room hastily, as he did, he heard the Hokage exhale deeply behind him. Itachi had obviously just solved a major dilemma that had been on the Hokage's mind for quite some time. He had just closed the door behind him and turned around. He gasped. Meri was still standing in the hallway, looking around. Itachi almost blushed for the first time in his entire life, something that would have been immensely embarrassing. She looked up at Itachi when he exited the room.

"Does he want me back in?" she asked brightly. Itachi shook his head in response.

"Oh. Okay!"

Itachi stared blankly at her. "Did you…did you hear any—" He began, but he stopped short at the down look on Meri's face. Itachi almost felt sorry for her, but this feeling faded just as quickly as it had come.

"I heard everything." Meri sighed. She stood up straighter and began to walk down the hallway, Itachi following. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He sighed, and closed his mouth again.

"I mean, sure, I'm a terrible ninja." Meri continued as the two of them exited the building Itachi blinked in the bright sunlight, it was a dramatic change in brightness from the dimly lit hallways. Meri brushed a strand of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"At least I understand that." She continued. "But he doesn't need to treat me like I'm a kid! Did you hear the way he talked to me? He didn't even use anything more than a four syllable word! I'm seventeen, for gods sake, be a little more eloquent!"

Itachi was surprised by Meri's last sentence. Partially because he suspected that she was only fifteen, partially because he had no idea that it was mentally possible to count the syllables in every word the Hokage said. Meri turned and stared at him hard, as if she expected him to reply, possibly comfort her somehow. Itachi stared back, though instead of an angry look plastered upon his pale Uchiha face, he merely appeared to be bored. Meri scoffed and looked in the other direction of Itachi, folding her arms angrily against her chest.

"I'm sure…" began Itachi slowly, wincing slightly. Meri turned around to look at him, eyes suddenly wide.

"You're not _that_ bad of a ninja…" he finished. Meri rolled her eyes, and Itachi sighed.

"Let's go now." He said. Meri raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?"

"I said, let's go train now. I'm sure you're not completely horrible." He replied. "Unless…" Itachi mirrored her expression, raising an eyebrow as well. "Unless you'd rather just sit here, of course."

Itachi stared politely at Meri, who studied his facial features for a moment or so, obviously looking for some sort trace of a tease on his face. Was he playing a joke on her? Finally, Meri crossed her arms again and smirked.

"Fine." She said. "The training grounds then?"

Itachi nodded, and resumed his usual silent form. The two stared at each other, Itachi with a blank expression on his face, Meri beaming up at him. Then they turned and began to walk down the road.

It was a warm, quiet summer's day, around the beginning of July. Bees hummed lazily as they floated through fields of flowers, the grass ripping gently in the wind. The sun beat down on Itachi and Meri, warming their backs and faces, yet not burning them. It was the perfect temperature. Enormous fluffy white clouds rolled through the never-ending beautiful blue sky. Everything was peaceful. The whole sense of it all made Itachi feel like he could fall asleep, though he knew that it would be extremely absurd if he did. He looked at Meri out of the corner of his eye. She was tilting back her head and watching the clouds, smiling.

"Isn't it beautiful out?" she asked, turning and smiling at him. Itachi stared at her.

"Well, isn't it?" she repeated. Itachi shrugged, and Meri narrowed her eyes, before turning forward again.

"Nobody ever appreciates nature." She said crossly, talking mostly to herself. The pair walked in silence for the rest of the journey, and at last, they arrived at the training grounds. They stood for a moment, each wondering what would come next.

"So!" Meri exclaimed happily. "Teacher—"

"Please don't call me that."

"…so, Itachi. What should we start off with?"

Itachi thought for a moment.

"We can start out today with the proper use of shuriken. We can move to kunai tomorrow."

Meri gaped at him. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, her eyes wide open, as if she were in shock.

"T-T-Tomorrow?!" She stammered. "Isn't that a bit…soon? Why don't we start kunai in…" she counted something on her fingers. "—three months?"

Itachi raised his eyebrows.

"Shuriken are really easy to use. I'm sure you'll master them quickly." He told her, crossing his arms. Meri opened and closed her mouths a few times once more, and then reached into her weapons bag. She pulled out something and held it up to Itachi. It looked to be an elongated slightly curved kunai, not unlike the one Kabuto uses.

"This is a shuriken, right?"

Itachi stared at her.

"Um….no. No, that is not a shuriken."

Meri looked at the weapon, turning it around in her hands for a moment before saying,

"Oh." And placing it back into her weapons bag. Itachi reached into his own and pulled out two or three shuriken.

"_These _are shuriken, Meri-chan." He told her, but he stopped before he said anything else. _I said her name._ He thought, horrified. He didn't really address anybody he knew by their full name unless they were family, or close friends. And then, he had another realization. _And I added chan!_ He thought again, now even more horrified. He looked at Meri, who looked positively radiant after being addressed like that. Though Itachi didn't know it, Meri saw this as a potential personality break through. Moments, possibly entire minutes passed before Meri cleared her throat.

"Um…you're…staring at me…" she said, and only then did Itachi really appreciate how awkward the situation had become.

"Right." Itachi said, his pale face twisted slightly into a look of embarrassment. "Shuriken." He held one out to her. She walked over and took it from his hand.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, almost as instantly as she had grasped the shuriken. She dropped the weapon as though it had burned in her hand. Meri turned to face Itachi, looking almost surprised. "I cut myself!" she exclaimed, lifting up her right palm to Itachi. Indeed, there were four small slices on different parts of her hand, each leaking small amounts of blood. She looked down at it once again, clenching it into a tight fist.

"Why am I not surprised…" Itachi muttered. Meri looked up from her bleeding hand.

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't say anything." He answered hastily. Meri pursed her lips.

"Oh." She said quietly, before reaching into her weapons bag and pulling out a small cloth. She wrapped it around her hand, and with great difficulty, tied it together using her uninjured hand and her teeth, grunting as she did so. Itachi found it quite amusing. Once Meri was done, Itachi walked over and picked up the shuriken she had dropped.

"Hold it like this." He said, showing her the shuriken in his hand. "Keep one finger in this little hole in the center, it'll keep you from hurting yourself."

Meri nodded, and took the shuriken once more. She smiled as she did.

"Well, that solves a lot." She announced. Itachi didn't reply.

"Watch." He said. Itachi bent his arm and suddenly flung it forward, releasing the shuriken as he did so. It went whizzing forward and with a soft thunk, embedded itself in a tree about ten feet away. Meri stared at it, and then transferred her vision back to Itachi.

"Bring your arm back like I did." Itachi instructed, and Meri did so.

"Concentrate on the target, and when you're ready to throw, bring your arm forward like I did. Twist your wrist a bit, not a flick, a twist, so the shuriken will spin and stay balanced in the air. It's pretty simple."

Meri nodded gravely, Itachi could tell she was extremely nervous. She brought her arm back a bit more and then flung it forward. Her form wasn't perfect, but Itachi wasn't expecting it to be any better, or any worse for that matter. He heard a thunk and looked at the tree Meri had been aiming at. There was indeed a shuriken in the tree – yet it was the one he had thrown a moment ago.

"Where is--?" Itachi began, but Meri was looking away from him. He followed her gaze to a tree about fifteen feet to the left and slightly behind the target she had been aiming at. Up in the very top of the trunk gleamed a small shuriken.

_She __**does**__ suck!_ Itachi thought, but he didn't voice what he was thinking.

"Um…it's a start…" he said slowly. Meri turned around and beamed at him.

It's a start.

And it was.


	4. Breakthrough

**Author's Note:**

Have any of you ever noticed that nobody really cares when somebody in Naruto goes missing? "Naruto and Sasuke didn't come back last night…oh well."

THEY COULD'VE BEEN KILLED, FOR PETE'S SAKE. But does anybody care? NO! And when they DO come home, NOBODY EVER ASKS WHERE THEY'VE BEEN. Tsch. People in that show are so irresponsible.

--

On their third day of training, Itachi noted that Meri was already making great process…well, for one of her level. Now, instead of hitting a tree fifteen feet away, she'd successfully land a shuriken in a tree that was eight feet closer. Score one for Meri. On the fifth day, Itachi smiled, he actually smiled. At first, he was absolutely horrified at himself, but began to think.

_Smiling's not that bad…it actually feels sort of nice…_ He had thought. _Maybe that's why she's so happy all the time._

Score one for Itachi.

Yet only on the tenth day did something truly extraordinary happen.

"Remember your form, Meri-chan." He said, having already gotten used to the name. Itachi now considered Meri something of a friend, maybe more of a colleague or a student, but she had grown on him slightly nonetheless, whatever you wanted to call her. No, he did not like her as anything more than a distant friend. He simply did not hate her anymore….though he still couldn't stand how much she smiled.

Meri nodded and brought the kunai back.

"Twist your wrist." Itachi continued his voice now much lower and extremely quiet.

"…now."

Meri flung the kunai, and Itachi heard the familiar thud saying that the shuriken had found a target. He began to look around, in the general opposite direction of the tree where Meri was aiming. The shuriken was nowhere in sight.

"Itachi…" Meri whispered. He turned around.

"Where is it?" he asked. Meri raised a trembling arm and pointed.

Itachi stared with wide eyes at the shuriken Meri was pointing at, the tip lodged in the very tree she had been trying to hit.

"You….actually…hit…" Itachi whispered. Meri was mouthing the words _Oh my lord._ As she stared at the shuriken. She then whirled around to Itachi and ran towards him, flinging her arms around him and pulling him into a bone-crushing hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" she exclaimed, practically jumping up and down. "Itachi-kun, you are the best teacher ever!"

Itachi gave Meri a pat on the back – and coughed. He was surprised that somebody who didn't even know what a shuriken was could have such brute strength. His lungs were being pressed into his ribs and all the air was forced out of him. Itachi was half convinced that he was going to pass out when Meri released him. Air flooded his lungs and he took three deep breaths. When he straightened up, Meri was still smiling at him.

"So?" she asked. Itachi appeared confused.

"So what?"

"What do you mean so what?!" Meri suddenly exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "Let's go celebrate! Come on, please, I know you always act quiet and angsty all the time but you've just _got _ to come celebrate with me! Let's have lunch! Ichiraku's, I'll pay!"

Itachi blinked at her.

…_is it that obvious that I act angsty sometimes?_ He thought, looking slightly affronted. But he smiled.

"Fine. But you don't have to pay, really—"

"No, I wanna pay!" Meri said, grabbing his hand and tugging him forward as she began to run. "C'mon!"

She practically dragged Itachi all the way to the small ramen shop tucked cozily between its two neighboring stores.

"Um, you can let go of my hand now." Meri said slowly as the two entered the ramen shop. Itachi dropped Meri's hand immediately and turned to glare at her.

"You're the one who grabbed it in the first place, baka." He reminded her, yet Meri was obviously too happy to be insulted.

"Well, I suppose we're both idiots then!" she said cheerfully, taking a seat. Itachi sat down next to her, heart racing.

_She held my hand._ He thought, but immediately gagged. _Why do I even care?!_

"Can I get you two anything?" asked a young woman, smiling at them both.

"Two bowls of ramen please, just plain, thank you." Meri said, smiling back. She nodded and turned away, and a few minutes later, placed a small bowl of steaming noodles in front of the two of them. Itachi reached over and grabbed four chopsticks. He handed two to Meri, and began to eat.

"So…" began Meri after she had swallowed her first bite of ramen. "Itachi, I've spent ten days with you, and I don't know anything about you. Tell me about yourself."

Itachi looked up from his meal and stared at her. He definitely wasn't the talkative type…in fact, many would say that he was the exact opposite, and he wasn't about to have a drastic personality change. But, he couldn't just ignore her, could he?

Itachi swallowed the ramen in his mouth and began to talk.

"I live with my mother, Mikoto Uchiha, and my father, Fugaku Uchiha. I have a little brother named Sasuke, who is currently six years old." He paused to take another bite of ramen. Once he had swallowed, he asked,

"You?"

Meri began to talk almost immediately, and immensely fast.

"Of course I live with my father, Kasumaru Umeko, he's an only child like me, and he's lived in Konoha his whole life. My mother, Hitomi, was born in Sunagakure and was in a family of six, two parents and three sisters, including her. One of her sisters was killed and all the others moved away. My father met my mother when he was on a mission to Sunagakure and they fell in love and moved here. Three years later, they had me. I'm still their only child, but I think it'd be cool to have a younger brother or sister – is Sasuke fun to have around?"

Itachi stared blankly at her, having not caught a single word she just said.

"What?" he asked. Meri laughed.

"You're really funny, Itachi."

Itachi, of course, had not meant to be funny, but smiled anyway.

Itachi pulled open the front door and stepped inside his house, feeling a rush of cold air, a great relief from the sweltering heat of an unusually feverish mid-July. Thank the lord for air conditioning. (**A/N: Yeah, I know they're not totally technologically advanced, but they have computers, refrigerators and headsets. I think they'd probably have AC.) **He put down his weapons bag on a table beside the door and walked further into the house.

"Big brother!" an all too familiar voice called from down a hallway. Itachi turned and saw his little brother Sasuke practically sprinting towards him. Sasuke skidded to a halt directly in front of Itachi and looked up at him with wide eyes, a small trace of a smile on his eager face.

"Will you help me with my shuriken jutsu today nii-san?" he piped up. Before Itachi could answer, another voice carried down the hallway.

"Sasuke, dinner is in ten minutes, you're not going out to train!" Mikoto called. Sasuke crossed his arms and commenced to pout, sticking out his bottom lip and narrowing his eyes.

"But moooooom!" He whined.

"No!" their mother repeated. "Sasuke, go clean your room before dinner is ready, I've already told you three times!"

Sasuke pouted even more and stomped away into his bedroom, angrily slamming the door behind him.

At the dinner table, a few minutes later, the four Uchihas ate in silence, all staring down at their plates and eating slowly. Nobody spoke for a while until,

"Itachi?"

He looked up at his mother.

"Yes?"

"How's training coming with your little friend?" she asked politely, clearly trying to strike up a conversation.

"Meri, you mean?" Itachi asked. "Yeah, it's pretty good."

Fugaku stared strangely at his son. He had expected Itachi to simply shrug, as he normally would – but an actual answer, a verbal answer coming from Itachi? It was unheard of.

"Is she a nice girl?" Mikoto asked. Sasuke had looked up from his dinner plate as well. Now they were all staring at Itachi.

"Uh, yeah…she's pretty nice." He replied, now looking back down at his plate.

"Have you two made any progress?" his mother continued. Oh, what Itachi would give for them to drop that subject. He didn't know why, but talking about Meri in front of his family proved to be immensely embarrassing.

"Yes." Itachi answered, poking at his meal with a chopstick. "She threw the shuriken on target today, which – trust me – is a very big accomplishment."

The corners of his mouth twitched, and he couldn't help but smile slightly. Sasuke even chuckled, and Mikoto looked pleased. However, Fugaku was glaring at Itachi.

"You two aren't anything more than teacher and student." He said, addressing Itachi. It was more of a statement than a question.

"Well, we're sort of friends, yeah, but—"

"NO." Fugaku had slammed his chopstick down on the table, causing everybody's plates to clatter against the wooden table. Itachi looked at his father.

"You are nothing more than teacher and student." Fugaku repeated. "You are not friends. Itachi, you can't go mixing with her kind."

Itachi was surprised. It took his brain a moment or so to process what his father had said.

"Her _kind?_" Itachi challenged. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"She's rich, so damn rich that if we had that kind of money we'd…we'd…" Fugaku couldn't seem to think of a way to finish the sentence, but looked absolutely furious nonetheless.

"That's not the point!" he said. "She's royalty, and we're a family of nobodies, Itachi. Compared to her family, we're peasants. We're dirt poor."

"We are?" Sasuke whispered, obviously scared by his father's sudden violent outburst. "I didn't know we didn't have any money…" He looked as if he were about to cry. Mikoto gave Fugaku a disapproving look before edging around the table and putting a comforting arm around Sasuke's shoulders.

"We do have money, Sasuke-kun." She whispered to him, before looking up. "Tell your son we have money, don't frighten him." Her voice was low and quiet, yet heard clearly by Itachi and Fugaku.

"We do have money, but next to Meri's family, we have nothing!" Fugaku said, his voice rising. "Don't go mixing in with their crowd. People will start to talk…you have no idea how much trouble that will cause, Itachi. You two can never be anything more than student and teacher!"

A silence descended over the family. Fugaku was breathing heavily and Itachi was looking at him, his face entirely blank. Sasuke was sniffing slightly and wiping his nose, while Mikoto patted him on the back.

"And when," whispered Itachi, shattering the silence. "Do you recall me saying that I ever wanted to be more than student and teacher? I don't believe I said anything of the sort."

Fugaku didn't reply. He stood up turned on his heel, walking angrily from the room.

"Sasuke, Itachi and I are going to do the dishes. You can run along now." Mikoto said quietly. Sasuke nodded and left the kitchen. Mikoto and Itachi exchanged glances before standing up and collecting each of the plates and bringing them over to the sink.

"Your father is a very short tempered man, Itachi." Mikoto said quietly as she turned on the hot water. "Surely you ought to know that by now."

They stood in silence for a few moments, and Itachi reached out with one finger and held it under the running water. He withdrew it almost immediately; the water was too hot to be touched. He reached out and turned the cold water slightly on.

:"But I couldn't help but wonder…" Mikoto continued, staring at Itachi's hand as he turned on the cold water. "Is there anything…you know…going on…between you and—"

"No." Itachi interrupted her quickly. "There is nothing going on between us."

But Itachi's words were betrayed by his cheeks, which flushed the slightest bit. Normally it would've been so subdued that you couldn't see the color, but the pinkness was easily spotted on his pale Uchiha face.

"Itachi." Mikoto said. Her tone was now soft, and she was staring at him with a sort of expression that only a caring mother could give. "I'm your mother. You can tell me anything."

Itachi sighed.

"I don't like Meri." He repeated. "She's annoying, she has too much energy, she never shuts up, she's always happy, she's a horrible ninja, she's…she's…" Itachi moaned. "She's perfect. And I hate her. So why do I like her?"

It was probably the first time Itachi had asked his mother for advice since twelve years ago. Mikoto bit her bottom lip in thought.

"This girl is really pulling a different personality out of you, Itachi." She said. The two seemed to have completely forgotten the stack of dishes that sat by the sink. "And I mean that in a good way. You're a quiet type of person, Itachi, and as far as I can tell, you don't really like socializing and interacting with other people. Meri is teaching you how to do that, she's showing you how to live a little. That's strange and foreign to you, Itachi. That's why you think you hate her."

Itachi blinked at Mikoto, who looked pleased by her random stroke of intelligence.

"I'd never thought of it like that before." Said Itachi. "Thanks, mom."

"Any time, Itachi."

Itachi turned and left the kitchen, and Mikoto turned to the pile of plates. She grabbed the top one and turned on the water once more, now smiling to herself. She sighed.

"Men."


	5. Advice

On Itachi's short trip from the kitchen to his bedroom, he stepped inside Sasuke's room. Sasuke looked up from the book that he held in his lap.

"Yeah?" he asked. Itachi could tell he was annoyed about the shuriken jutsu from earlier that day. He could've easily snapped back at Sasuke and stated sternly that it wasn't his fault, but Itachi reminded himself that he hadn't come in to yell at Sasuke.

"You are never too old to ask your mother for advice." Itachi told Sasuke, before nodding curtly and leaving his room, leaving his dumbstruck little brother behind him.

**Author's Note: It's always fun to have a short chapter. Please review, tell me if I suck. Insults are always appreciated.**


	6. Meadow

This chapter is donated to SabakuNoBaka who gave me an excellent idea for a picture (don't ask…and I'm also curious as to why you asked me to have Itachi eat a kiwi, SNB?). This chapter is donated to Meri Umeko (well, the whole story is, basically. Thanks for the idea!) and also to EbIL cHEEsE-SaMA for being the first person to post a comment that wasn't a compliment. (I am so happy, I'll totally take your advice and try to post longer chapters.) Things like that are always greatly appreciated.

The following weeks were pure torture for Itachi. Now that he had openly admitted his feelings for Meri in front of somebody, he couldn't help but feeling slightly awkward around her. She seemed to be laughing and smiling a lot more than she did before – or was that just Itachi's imagination? Every time she threw a smile across his path, his heart would skip a beat. And though it did, Itachi normally found himself smiling and laughing along with her. They were better friends now than they had ever been before. Itachi didn't glare at her whenever she did something completely stupid as he used to before, and Meri hardly ever mumbled things about Itachi under her breath when she was sure he couldn't hear. No, now Itachi and Meri considered themselves very close friends, and, Itachi even allowed Meri to hug him every once in a while, on the rare occasion that she had lodged a shuriken in a tree that she had actually been aiming for. And on top of all that, she wasn't the skinny pale girl with the shoulder length brown hair anymore. Meri had now become the slender, soft skinned beautiful girl with shining light brown hair that cascaded in locks of silk down her slender shoulders, with soft, yet bright pale blue eyes that looked at you in a hypnotizing way. The more time Itachi spent with her, the more he found himself laughing, smiling, and overall enjoying life…but he hated it all.

_What am I becoming?_ he thought, after he had laughed at one of Meri's poorly attempted jokes. _What happened to the old me, where is my personality going?_ Itachi Uchiha was becoming more like Meri Umeko, and he hated it. Yet, the more he hated her, the more his feelings expanded. He was torn down the middle, not knowing which side to give into.

He felt like his brain had exploded in his head.

On the beginning of week number five, Itachi woke early enough that the whole village itself seemed to be slumbering still. The ground outside was flooded with a gentle pale orange light from the slowly rising sun, and few birds chirped as they woke from their sleep. He changed quietly and slipped into the kitchen for a small breakfast. He walked over to a small bowl of fruit on the counter, first picking up a pear, then an apple, and finally deciding on a kiwi. Itachi peeled off the skin and bit into the fruit as he walked out the door. It was still slightly dim outside, and Itachi almost regretted not wearing a long sleeved shirt. The temperature had cooled overnight and hadn't yet risen to the sweltering heat that the Konoha villagers still hadn't gotten used to…which is when Itachi remembered that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to wear a long sleeved shirt. Itachi made his way towards his destination – the training grounds.

Itachi was somewhat surprised to find Meri already at the training grounds when they arrived, digging through her weapons bag. Meri was sitting on top of a small boulder that sat directly on the edge of the forest. A tree grew out of the ground directly behind it, which Meri leaned on as she looked through her bag. She looked up at the sound of Itachi approaching, and smiled.

"Good morning, sunshine!" called Meri brightly, waving to him as he made his way towards her.

"Good morning, Meri." replied Itachi, walking closer. He leaned casually on the small boulder and looked up at her. "What are you doing?" he asked quietly.

Meri mumbled a sentence or two to Itachi and she dug into her weapons bag even further, glaring at it with ferocious intensity.

"Excuse me?" he asked again, now looking down at the weapons bag as well.

"I came here early." began Meri, now taking her hands out of the weapons bag and folding them in her lap.

"I was going to do a little extra shuriken practice before you got here…but I don't have any shuriken."

Itachi shrugged.

"That's not a problem." he said, reaching down. "I've got some shuriken right—"

Itachi stopped abruptly. The hand that he had meant to reach into his weapons bag grasped nothing but air. He looked down at his leg, where his weapons bag should have been strapped to, but nothing was there. Itachi must have forgotten it at his home. He sighed. It was too long a walk back to his house to pick it up, and an even longer walk back to Meri's home. He sighed.

"I must have left my weapons bag at my house." he said coolly, angry at himself. The brunette frowned.

"Oh…" she said slowly. "Well then…I guess…we…"

Her face suddenly lit up, as if she had a sudden realization.

"We can take a day off! We've been training forever, Itachi-kun, why don't we do something fun today?"

Itachi actually doing something fun seemed completely impossible. Yet, with Meri around, the possibilities were endless. He shrugged.

"Why not? Do you want to go get some ramen?" suggested Itachi, shrugging. Meri frowned once more and scooted forwards with her weapons bag in hand, leaping clumsily down from the small rock. She stumbled on her landing, and shook her head as she straightened up.

"We always get ramen." replied Meri, with an air of nagging in her voice. Itachi could've replied against that, he could've pointed out that he had only had ramen with Meri once – the first time she actually hit something on target, of course – but knew that arguing would do him no good.

"We could…" he began again, but his would-be suggestion slowly faded into the silence of the early Konoha morning. Itachi and Meri sat silently, each running through ideas as to what they could do on their day off from training.

Meri shattered the silence by giving a soft 'oh!' Itachi looked up at her.

"Yeah?" He questioned. The thoughtful look on Meri's face disappeared, and the corners of her once frowning mouth slowly curved upwards into a mischievous smile. Her eyes narrowed as she did, and she appeared to be biting her bottom lip.

"I know a place." she said, her voice lower than it had been before. It was utterly obvious that she was excited about something. "It's my favorite place in the whole world, I go there every day after we train, it's sort of my little place to –"

"Meri, just tell me where it is." Itachi interrupted, fearing another twenty minute period where he was forced to sit and listen to Meri's pointless ranting about how great something was. Meri grabbed her weapons bag and set off. Without glancing over her shoulder towards Itachi, she held up a hand and beckoned him to come.

"Follow me."

Itachi followed Meri soundlessly, drifting silently behind her as she seemed to glide slowly away from him, walking much more daintily and more delicately than Itachi had ever seen her. She led him directly up to the edge of the forest that surrounded the training grounds and walked through it, suddenly submerging the two of them in darkness caused by the shade of the leaves, a dull shade of green against the pale orange sky. Meri weaved quickly throughout the trees, silent as a ghost. Only the small whispers of her hair fanning out behind her were heard by Itachi. Then, suddenly as they had thickened, the distance between the trees seemed to thin. Now Meri and Itachi were walking in a straight line, in and out of patches of shade littered everywhere about the mossy forest floor. It was brighter up ahead, and Itachi knew this was where Meri was heading. Indeed, the two soon broke out of the forest's cool atmosphere and into the open.

It was a meadow. A large meadow unlike anything Itachi had ever seen before. Knee-length grass that rippled in the gentle morning wind tickled Itachi's shins as he walked forward still. It was surrounded by the forest on all sides, giving it the illusion of a private enclosure. Wildflowers were scattered all throughout the meadow, some as tall and vibrant as sunflowers, beaming around and showing off their flashy, stunning colors; while others sat there modestly, their small additions making a great contribution to the whole beauty of it all. And in the middle of the landscape sat the greatest feature of all. It was an oak tree, the largest, most magnificent oak tree Itachi had ever seen. It sprung up from the flat ground, it's thick dark wooden trunk scratched and twisted, giving it the first impression of an extremely old and friendly giant. It's thick branches and limbs arched and twirled in all directions, making delicate patterns and mazes, designing a beautifully complex labyrinth with it's bright green leaves. And as if none of this wasn't beautiful enough, the sky had now grown to be a pale pink, flooding the scene with a soft and gentle glow.

"_Nobody ever appreciates nature." She said crossly._

Itachi understood now. Never once in his life would he have ever stopped to look at a cloud and wonder how mere water and wind could create such a beautiful thing. Never once would he stop to watch two squirrels chase each other around a tree like the one he stared at now, wishing to be joyful and carefree like them. Never would he have stopped to appreciate anything.

That is, until he met Meri, of course.

Meri finally halted to a stop at the very base of the oak, plopping down in front of it and crossing her legs. Itachi walked over and sat down next to her, still trying to take it all in. The sudden beauty, the sudden realization that nature wasn't just a cluster of trees, was a bit much for him to take in all at once. They leaned against the tree, facing the rising sun. There was a small gap between two trees where the sun was only beginning to peek out. How perfect. How utterly, utterly perfect.

"Well?" Meri said. Her voice was now barely over a whisper. "What do you think?"

The sound of another human-being's voice seemed to awake Itachi from his momentary state of shock, his mind resurfacing from his thoughts, back to reality. He turned to Meri and looked at her. The meadow seemed to have amplified her beauty, the pale glow of the sun beamed lightly down upon her face, her skin now looked angelically soft, her eyes twinkling. Itachi tried to speak, but no words came out. His mouth appeared to have gone dry. Meri smiled.

"That's what I thought when I first discovered this place." she told him, seeming to understand what the sudden change in landscape had done to Itachi's brain. Her smile lingered on her face. Itachi and Meri sat frozen, staring at each other. Itachi's mind had gone completely blank, not registering that staring at a woman too long might be, well, a bit…awkward. Meri's smile only widened and she chuckled slightly under her breath. Suddenly, she turned away and reached down into her weapons bag. Slowly, she pulled out a kunai.

"I've been practicing." she told Itachi, pushing herself to her feet as she did so. The kunoichi twirled the kunai on one of her fingers. "Just a bit though."

She stopped twirling and grabbed the kunai in her fingers, as if about to throw it. With her other hand, she pointed towards one of the more vibrant flowers, a pale pink one with wavy, silky petals and a bright orange center.

"Wanna see if I can hit that flower?" she asked. Itachi nodded slowly, shrugging. Meri beamed at him and turned to face the plant, bringing back her arm.

Itachi was still in slight shock, and he seemed to have forgotten that you could be in serious danger if you were in a twenty meter radius of Meri Umeko when she was holding something pointy.

The next think Itachi knew, his head erupted in a horrible sickening, blinding pain. The kunai wasn't enough to pierce his skull, but it had left a deep stab wound directly over his left eye. Blood poured down his face and the whole meadow seemed to flash red before he clenched his eyes shut, along with his teeth. He grasped his head which was pounding painfully, swearing loudly. From in front of him, he heard Meri scream slightly and run over towards him. A few moments later, and he felt a small wad of fabric dabbing at his wound. The pain was subsiding somewhat, though the place where the kunai had hit still throbbed horribly. Itachi's teeth still clenched, Meri leaned over him, her face close to his as she continued to dab at the wound with her wad of bandages. The blood on his face had soon been wiped up, and Itachi had opened his eyes. He bit his bottom lip in pain, though he sat their quietly, allowing Meri to tend to his wound.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry…" she whispered as she worked. The cut had mostly stopped bleeding, though Meri continued to clean. Now the pain was almost completely gone, surprising Itachi. Perhaps the wound wasn't as bad as he thought.

"Meri, I'm fine." he said, speaking at last. Meri nodded. He opened his left eye, wincing slightly, and studied Meri's face. It was a ghostly pale, her eyes wide and her mouth open.

"I'm fine." he repeated. Meri nodded, her horrified look fading slightly…though horrified or not, the pale yellow sky still amplified her beauty. Her skin glowed in the morning light, her eyes twinkling. She still bent over Itachi, holding the bandages. Itachi stared into the deep pools of blue that where Meri's eyes, their faces mere inches apart.

They were close…unbelievably close…

I'm sorry I'm not updating so much. You couldn't possibly understand how freaking busy I am. I'm trying, I really am, so please just be patient.


	7. Brotherly

"_Compared to her family, we're peasants. We're dirt poor."_

Fugaku's voice rang through Itachi's head as clearly as though he were standing behind him as he and Meri moved closer still. Itachi could feel her warm and gentle breathing on his cheeks. He could've counted her eyelashes….her long, beautiful eyelashes…

"_People will start to talk, you have no idea how much trouble that will cause!"_

Again, his father's voice shattered the peaceful stillness in Itachi's mind. He knew he was only imagining it, but it was so realistic, the voice sent shivers up Itachi's spine. He ignored them. Itachi slowly began to close his eyes, and through his eyelids, he saw Meri do the same. Their lips were but a centimeter apart…

"_You two can never be anything more than student and teacher!"_

The voice of his angry father screeched in his ear, the vision of his furious pale face swam in front of Itachi, sliding in and out of focus.

He gave a soft gasp, and at the very last moment, pulled away.

Itachi faced away from Meri, determined not to look at her. He bit his bottom lip, his heart racing in his chest, pounding painfully against his rib cage. Itachi's lungs expanded, flooding with cool air as he took a breath. His very bone marrow chilled as the voice of his father floated to the surface of his mind once more, forever imprinted in his brain.

_We almost…we just…Meri…_ He thought, horrified. _Meri…_

He slowly turned around, afraid to discover Meri's reaction. Had he hurt her? Finally facing Meri once more, he had to bite the inside of his cheeks to prevent his mouth from falling open. She was smiling. _Actually_ smiling.

"Awkward…" she sang in a high pitched sing-songy voice.

And that, I'm afraid, is when Itachi finally lost it. His eyes immediately narrowed, and he scowled at her possibly harder than he had ever scowled at somebody in his entire eighteen years. He glared at her with such intense ferocity, Meri almost seemed frightened.

"Meri, you know what?" He began, his voice loud and angry. "You're too happy! Nobody is ever that happy! Have you ever been sad? EVER!?"

Itachi's sudden rage had propelled him to his feet, Meri watching with a silent awe as he paced back and fourth in front of her, ranting still.

"Nobody likes it when somebody is cheerful all the time! NOBODY! How on earth could you possibly act so fucking happy _all the time_? Not only is it mentally impossible, IT PISSES OFF OTHER PEOPLE! Who wants to hang around with some idiot who smiles and is bright all the time? I'll tell you who! NOT ME! Meri, you are honestly the most annoying person I've ever met!"

The words poured out of his mouth before he could stop them. Now he was standing there, chest heaving and fists clenched, glaring at Meri. His expression of hatred shattered when he caught sight of Meri's face.

It was easily the most heart-melting expression Itachi had ever seen in his entire life. Meri's wide blue eyes stared up at Itachi with the look of an abandoned puppy, sparkling with the tears that she refused to let spill. Her mouth hung open slightly, and her chin trembled. Itachi stared at her, awestruck at the words he had just spoken.

"Meri…" he breathed. "Meri, I…."

"Let's just go." said Meri, her voice strained, as she stood up. Itachi nodded and began to walk, following Meri back to the training grounds. His mouth had gone completely dry.

The once beautiful surrounding forest that he saw when he originally walked to the meadow with Meri was now noticeably duller. The sky had now turned a boring shade of pale blue, and dark shadows blanketed the forest floor. The sun sparkled, sending down streams of light onto the few places of the mossy ground where a tree wasn't blocking the sunlight, yet it seemed to have lost it's effect…ever since he had yelled at Meri, things became plainer, less magical.

_Dear lord…what have I done?_

Itachi thought as the two reached the training grounds, and continued to walk. Somehow, he knew, training would be canceled for the day…

Minutes later, Meri and Itachi both stood on Itachi's front porch. He turned and grasped the cool metal handle to the door, too embarrassed to face the kunoichi after his harsh words. Though he couldn't just leave without saying goodbye…or apologizing, for that matter. What kind of a man would he be?

Meri was already walking away when Itachi spoke.

"Meri." said Itachi quietly. Meri stopped walking, and Itachi noticed that her hands were balled into tight fists by her sides. His stomach clenched, she was clearly angry.

"Meri, come here." It was more of a request than a demand. His voice was quiet and soft, it almost sounded longing. At the sound of Itachi's tone, Meri's hands fell limp, and she turned around, obediently walking back up to where he stood.

"Meri…" he began, sighing as he looked down at her. "Meri, I said some things back there…"

"You did, did you?" Meri interrupted. Her tone was bitter, frightening Itachi. "I hadn't noticed."

"Meri, listen, I'm—"

"Those things hurt, Itachi." she said, glaring at him with the intensity he had used only minutes before. "They hurt when they come from father, but they hurt twice as much when they come from you. I can't believe you'd do something like that to me! Finally I think there's someone who will put up with me, who'll understand me, and then you go and--!"

"Meri. I'm sorry." Itachi put in before she could continue. Meri's cold expression softened at his voice.

"I didn't mean anything I said…" he continued. "I just…I'm…I've been feeling…I…I just…"

Meri nodded, speaking before he finished.

"I know." she said, her face now kind. "I forgive you…we sometimes say things we don't mean when we're confused."

Itachi stared.

"Confused?"

Meri nodded, and shrugged.

"You know, conflicted emotions."

He stared more, a quizzical expression playing on his face.

"Who said I had conflicted emotions?"

Meri responded by reaching up and taking Itachi's left shoulder in a firm but gentle grip. She pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

"Nobody, I guess." she replied once she was standing firmly on the ground again.

The Uchiha stared at her with wide eyes, the side of his face still tingling from where her lips had met his skin. A wave of pure shock took over his body and senses. He couldn't move. Meri turned away, her expression unreadable.

"See you later, Itachi." she said, waving over her shoulder as she walked away from him. He watched her leave, and only when she was finally out of view did something click into place in his mind.

_She kissed me!_

Itachi turned around and entered his house, walking into the living room directly to the right of the door and collapsing down onto the comfortable sky-blue couch.

"Big brother!" A voice called, and Sasuke came skidding into the room, staring at Itachi excitedly. When Itachi did not reply, Sasuke frowned and walked over to the other end of the room, plopping down in an armchair. The two sat like that for ages, Itachi staring at the wall and Sasuke staring at him, until finally Itachi's head snapped up.

"What are you looking at?" he demanded, glaring at Sasuke.

"Your face, I guess." the academy-student admitted, shrugging. "Did you know that your facial expression changes a lot when you're thinking? It's fun to watch."

Itachi stared at him. Sasuke sighed, rolling his eyes slightly.

"It's girl trouble, isn't it?" asked Sasuke, grinning.

"………you know, Sasuke, for a six year old, you know me better than most people do."

Sasuke scowled.

"I'll be seven in eight months."

"Which is a long time…say, how did you know it was me walking in the house?"

"I know your footsteps."

Itachi began to wonder how on earth it was possible to memorize the sound of the footsteps of everybody you know, but no matter how hard he attempted to steer his thoughs, his mind always began to travel back to Meri…

"Well, is it?" questioned Sasuke once more.

"Is what?"

"Is it girl trouble, duh!"

"Oh…" Itachi paused, wondering if he should tell Sasuke the truth….well, why not?

"Yes." he finally replied. Sasuke nodded gravely and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"I have girl trouble at school, you know." Sasuke admitted, his face flushing a bright red. Itachi could tell this was obviously something Sasuke was very embarrassed about, and though he was amused, Itachi decided to take Sauke very seriously.

"All of the girls there have crushes on me…they follow me around…it's kind of scary." his little brother added. "Somebody started a rumor that I like girls with long hair, and now they're all growing their hair out."

Itachi nodded, remembering his school days where very similar things happened to him, recalling also how it had frightened him just as much as it had frightened Sasuke.

"There's a girl that I know, and I think she likes me." talking to his brother as if he too were still a young academy student. "We almost kissed, but didn't."

Itachi looked up, and had to fight off every nerve in his brain that was urging him to burst out laughing. The look on Sasuke's face was absolutely priceless, and if Itachi could have framed it and kept it forever, he would have. He had never seen anybody wear such a horrified expression before.

"But don't you know?" Sasuke whispered. Itachi leaned forward to hear him.

"Girls…" Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at least three times before turning back to his older brother and hissing,

"…they have cooties!"

Itachi closed his eyes and shook his head, smiling as he did so.

"Not this one."

Sasuke looked even more amazed at the fact that there could actually be a girl alive who _didn't_ have cooties. But, slowly and surely, the expression of pure terror faded, replaced by one of amusement.

"It's Meri, isn't it?"

Itachi didn't answer. The look of amusement on his face had fallen. He now stared blankly at the wall ahead of him. Sasuke took this as his que to leave. Without a word, he stood up and left the room, leaving Itachi to his thoughts.

_Does she really like me?_ The first thought that pushed and shoved it's way past the many other thoughts in Itachi's mind tantalized him. What if Meri didn't really like him at all? What if she was playing a game of cat-and-mouse with him, tempting him, making him like her until he finally admitted it…and she could break his heart in half as easily as she could a twig. Though, if she was, Meri wouldn't have tried to kiss him…would she? Maybe it's not a game…_but maybe she doesn't like me as much as I like her..._ he thought, trying desperately to see the situation from a woman's point of view, something which was proving to be almost impossible.

He sighed.

"I'm giving myself a headache…"

In his deep thought, Itachi seemed not to have noticed that his little brother had slyly slinked back into the room, sitting in the same armchair before.

"I want to meet Meri." Sasuke announced. "Can she come over for lunch tomorrow?"

Lunch with Meri at his own house sounded like the most wonderful thing in the world to Itachi…and then he remembered his father.

"We can't. Father would—"

"Father left for a mission to Iwagakure this morning. He won't be back for two weeks." interrupted Sasuke, the corners of his mouth curling up to form a suggestive grin.

"…I don't see why not." Itachi finally said, shrugging. Sasuke's face lit up.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed, punching the air and jumping off the couch. "This is gonna be so cool! I get to meet a rich girl _without_ cooties!"

The older Uchiha smiled.

If this was a game of cat-and-mouse, he'd play along.

But for just a bit longer.

--

**I'm really sorry the lasts A/N were in the same font as the actual text without spaces inbetween. It was like that in the word document, but for some reason it didn't work. This chapter was about seven pages in Microsoft Word, I'm sorry all my chapters are so short, but I like them like that. It's just my style. And I'm unbelievably busy at school, which is why I'm not updating so much. Again, I'm really sorry. Please review!!! I luff it when you insult me.**


	8. Cooties

I cannot possibly tell you how much I want you to review!!! Even if it's only one word, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Konan would have a little albino chinchilla named Robert that knew how to play the harmonica. But she doesn't. If I owned Naruto, Sasori and Deidara would still be alive….and married. 3 Oh, and Zetsu would be a vegetarian, and Sasuke would be dead, and Kakashi would have orange hair, and Kankuro would have a candy-corn for a puppet, and….and….

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

---

The arrangements for lunch with Meri were made the very next morning. It was planned that she was to come to Itachi's at one-thirty that afternoon for lunch with him, his brother, and his mother. With Fugaku conveniently out of town, Itachi didn't have to worry about constant yelling and scolding about things that Itachi would rather not talk about in the company of other beings. But no, Fugaku was in Iwagakure, away for three weeks. Neither Itachi nor Meri had anything to worry about.

Oh, how very, very wrong they were.

The moment Itachi entered the door, his body stiffened. His dark black eyes found the one person he couldn't have wanted to see less. His father stared questioningly back at him, wondering why on earth his son looked so frightened.

"You okay, Itachi?" Fugaku asked. Itachi nodded slowly.

"I thought you left for Iwagakure yesterday." he managed to say, running his tongue along the inside of his cheeks and lips in a sad attempt to wet his now completely dry mouth.

"No, that's _next_ Friday." Fugaku said, an eyebrow arching upward. "Is there something going on that I should know about?"

"Meri is coming over for lunch." Itachi said quickly and breathlessly. Oh, how he wanted to get this over with.

There was a long, long silence, and Itachi was almost positive that Fugaku could hear his heart thumping loudly as he awaited his father's reply.

"Sasuke already told me." 

Fugaku's cool words sliced through the thick atmosphere in the room, cutting through the air like butter. Moments before Itachi could respond, Fugaku turned and left.

---

Three sharp raps of knuckles on wood made Itachi jump about a mile from the couch on which he was so comfortably sitting on moments ago. He leaped up immediately and ran for the front door, wrenching it open…yet attempting to appear casual at the same time. How pathetic he was.

Meri stood there, dressed in casual Saturday clothes. She wore a slightly faded pair of denim jeans that was torn at the knee. A pink t-shirt covered her torso except for part of her chest where a small silver chain with a tiny charm hung. Itachi stared at her, wondering how on earth clothes so casual could make an average looking woman appear so…so…_sexy_.

"C-come in." he finally stuttered, opening the door more and stepping to the side. Meri smiled and walked inside.

"Hi, Itachi!" said the brunette cheerfully as Itachi closed the door behind her.

"Hello, Meri."

The two stood silently in what would amount to become the most awkward silence any of them had ever endured. They each stared pointlessly into the other's eyes, breathing quickly. Both of their minds buzzed with memories from the previous day where they had nearly kissed, and where Itachi had for the first time lost his temper. The air in the room seemed to thicken, and neither spoke as the silence grew louder, pounding in their ears and ringing in their brain. Itachi would give his life (well, not _his_ life…maybe Sasuke's) to break the silence by grasping Meri's arm and pulling her into a close embrace, trying to put as much emotion and regret for his actions into that hug as was possible…but he knew that it would be extremely awkward, considering that his little brother and both his parents were under the same roof.

"Are you Meri?"

Sasuke's voice made both of them jump, in their silence, neither had noticed him walk casually into the room and stand beneath them. Meri coughed and tore her gaze away from Itachi and stared down at Sasuke.

"Why, yes I am." she replied kindly. "And would you be Sasuke, Itachi's charming younger brother that he has told me so much about?"

"Mhmm." he said, staring up at Meri with wide eyes, before opening his mouth and asking the question that he had clearly been sitting on for a long time. "Do you really not have any cooties? Because I think you're pretty enough to have a lot of them."

Itachi could've picked Sasuke up, broken his neck, and thrown his body out the window. But surprisingly, Meri smiled and giggled, bending down and kissing Sasuke on the cheek.

"Thank you." she said kindly as she stood up straight. Sasuke reached up and numbly felt his cheek with his fingertips. Soon, the shock wore off and he glared up at Meri.

"I'm almost a ninja now, okay? Don't treat me like a baby!" he shot, wiping the kiss off of his cheek with the back of his hand.

"Oh. I see." said Meri gravely, nodding as her brow furrowed. "And I suppose fully grown non-baby ninja don't like lollipops anymore?"

She held up her hand, now holding a fairly large pink lollipop with crimson red swirls that she had produced from absolutely nowhere.

"Um…I still…like…lollipops." Sasuke admitted, his face turning just as crimson as the cherry-flavored swirls. Meri beamed.

"I thought so."

She bent down and handed Sasuke the candy, which he snatched greedily from her hand and stuffed into his mouth. He sucked on the sugar hungrily for a moment before his eyes widened, and he pulled the food out of his mouth stared at it, horrified.

"I bet you put your cooties into that lollipop!" he exclaimed. "YOU MEANIE! NOW I HAVE GIRL COOTIES!"

Sasuke threw down what was left of the lollipop and stomped on it, before sprinting into the other room. Meri was obviously shocked by his reaction, but she shrugged it off and turned back to Itachi.

"Such a nice little boy, isn't he?"

But Itachi's mind was too busy to answer. Yes, he was in full on think-like-a-girl-would mode yet again. Meri had bent down casually and kissed Sasuke on the cheek, just as she had done to him yesterday. Was she simply trying to be polite, or did she go around kissing everybody on the cheek? Did this…did this mean that her kiss yesterday had meant nothing at all?

He looked down and noticed Meri staring up at him. He shrugged in response to the question he did not hear, hoping it was the most appropriate answer without making him look rude or appear stupid. Meri gave a small giggle.

"So…um…let's go." Itachi said slowly, unsure of himself. he led Meri into the kitchen, where Fugaku and Mikoto already sat, waiting for the others to arrive.

---

Lunch was the most awkward situation Itachi had ever been in. Not only did Fugaku act coldly towards Meri and Itachi during the whole meal, Meri kept getting horrible threatening glares from Sasuke, who reeked of shampoo, soap, and toothpaste. The nauseating smell wafted around the room and was inhaled by all of them, creating numerous small headaches. Mikoto had attempted numerous times to start a conversation, failing miserably at each attempt. So, the small group of five settled on eating together silently.

"So…" Mikoto began yet again. Itachi resisted the urge to groan.

"Have you two been getting along?" she asked. Meri answered this time.

"We fought yesterday." she said. Fugaku looked up, and Meri noticed. She seized the opportunity as quickly as possible.

"It was pretty bad, actually…" she said, trying to sound as regretful and awkward as she could, though on the inside, she was dancing with happiness at how clever she was. "I mean…there was a lot of yelling…I think we got over it, but we're still pretty uncomfortable."

Itachi could have kissed her. He pictured every tense muscle in Fugaku's body relaxing – and indeed, he did slump backwards a little, now appearing more comfortable than he was before. Mikoto looked a bit upset, but at least Fugaku wasn't acting as cold anymore.

"Sasuke, go roll in some mud or something, you smell hideously clean." Fugaku said, a clear sign that he was comfortable now.

The rest of the lunch went smoothly, just as Itachi had planned.

---

An hour or so later, Sasuke was off in his room and Fugaku and Mikoto were in the kitchen cleaning up from the meal. Itachi and Meri stood at the doorway, saying their goodbyes.

"I'll see you Itachi." Meri said, smiling at him. "Tomorrow, at the training grounds."

Once more, she reached up and grabbed his left shoulder, and he instantly knew what she was going to do. As expected, she began to stand up on her tip toes, but instead, aimed for Itachi's lips instead of his cheek. He was shocked…but not too shocked not to move. He pulled backwards from a would-be first kiss yet again and brushed her hand from his shoulder.

"No, Meri." he said softly. She stared at him, clearly hurt. But Itachi continued.

"There is no way I'll ever let a girl make the first move."

Before Meri could register what he said, Itachi bent his head down. His lips found hers, and they brushed softly together at first, then harder. Meri kissed him back, subconsciously bringing her hand back to his shoulder. They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity, Itachi trying to put as much emotion into that kiss as was possible. He brought a hand up to her cheek, eyes closed. They only broke apart when a loud gasp emitted from the other end of the room.

Sasuke gaped at them, before smiling widely and singing at the top of his lungs,

"ITACHI AND MERI SITTIN' IN A TREE! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

He turned and pranced into the kitchen, screeching his song at the top of his lungs. Meri ripped her hand from Itachi's shoulder and ran out of the door, sprinting away from Itachi's house as quickly as she could. Sasuke's voice traveled down the hallway and into the kitchen—

_Father!_ Thought Itachi, as he heard a plate shatter into pieces as it connected with the wooden floor, followed by Fugaku's loud and angry voice:

"**HE DID WHAT?!"**


	9. Kasumaru

DISCLAIMER:

If I owned Naruto, would I be writing this story?

…

Didn't think so.

--

Meri ran. She ran as fast as her body would allow, stretching every muscle to it's tearing point and breathing in quick, jagged breaths. She could feel the hot blood pumping through her body as her heart drummed rapidly against her ribcage, her body throbbing with it's pulse. She ran until every part of her body was screaming in protest.

But she did not stop.

Meri didn't know why she was running, all she knew was that she had to gain as much possible distance between herself and Itachi. She needed to get away from him. Yet the further they were, the more Meri wanted to be closer…that kiss…their first kiss…if Meri could relive one moment in her life, that would be her first choice, no doubt.

And somehow, Meri knew, that something like that could never happen again. In a dark neglected corner of her insanely complicated mind, she knew that their relationship wasn't supposed to last farther than that kiss. She knew that good things in life were meant to flicker and die out, to be fleeting, never meant to last. Because of this, Meri could never see Itachi again. She knew it. The next time they met, it would become awkward. They couldn't move on past that kiss, they simply couldn't. It wasn't possible. Itachi just wasn't the type of person to get involved in a relationship, and even if he tried, Meri's family would simply not allow it. She'd have to ask father to hire a different tutor, no matter how much it pained her. And if her father refused to hire (or rather, blackmail) another shinobi, then Itachi and Meri would be forced to meet still, each of them attempting desperately to shove their feelings for each other out of their minds…

Meri's thoughts were shattered as a searing pain erupted in her left foot and shot up to her knee. She became aware of a warm liquid soaking the ground underneath her foot and swore loudly as she dropped to the ground. Grasping her ankle firmly in one hand and her heel in the other, Meri twisted around her foot to spot a triangular-shaped shard of glass protruding from her bare skin.

"Damn." she muttered, taking an edge of the glass gingerly between her thumb and forefinger, pulling it out slowly. She recoiled as the pain heightened, and she tossed aside the glass. The wound, though still very small, bled freely. She pulled out a small bandage from her weapons pouch and tied it around her foot, double-knotting it. She stood back up again and had begun to walk when she realized two things.

_Where are my shoes?_ Meri thought, and then the second realization dawned upon her.

_WHY AM I SO SLOW?!_

Both thoughts buzzed angrily in her mind, each fighting for her attention….was she really that stupid? Had it really taken her that long to realize that her shoes were missing? No – she had other things to think about…where _were_ her shoes? Had she forgotten…

And then, a horror formed in the pit of her stomach, growing slowly.

Her shoes.

They were at Itachi's.

Meri moaned as she slowly began to walk home. In all of the excitement, she must have forgotten to put them back on…meaning, she'd have to go pick them up later. Either that, or Itachi could keep the shoes forever, and Meri would just buy a new pair…but her father, Konoha's wealthiest, cruelest, and biggest penny pincher would never allow such a thing. She'd just have to work it out once she got to her house.

A few minutes later, she arrived at her home, knocking three times with a large brass lion-shaped knocker. She heard footsteps inside, and the door swung open, revealing a middle-aged woman about Meri's height, with bleach blonde hair tied up into a bun on the back of her head. She beamed as Meri entered, and embraced her, kissing her once on each cheek.

"Hello, mother." Meri greeted, inclining her head slightly as she spoke. The woman pursed her lips.

"There is no need for such formal behavior around family." she scolded. "Not with me, at least."

Meri nodded again, a grave expression upon her face.

"I understand." she replied, as her mother glanced nervously over both of her shoulders.

And then he came.

Kasumaru came striding elegantly into the room, burly arms stiff at his side, wide shoulders thrust back royally. His face was set, and he stared fixedly ahead, appearing almost angry as he walked. The man came to a stop in front of his wife and daughter, yet addressed only one of them.

"Meri." he said coldly.

"Father." Meri replied in a strained tone, trying to keep the fear out of her voice as she bowed deeply to him.

Kasumaru nodded curtly, and his eyes began to travel Meri's body, scanning her face and digging deep into her eyes, trying to uncover any hidden emotions or thoughts Meri may have had.

Meri kept perfectly still, breathing slowly as she held her arms limply at her sides. Any thought, any change in heart rate, any twitch, any blink would cause her father to investigate her thoroughly about the day's events…she didn't dare move.

Kasumaru's eyes slowed and halted to a stop at Meri's feet. He glanced to the mat inside the doorway – no shoes rested there – and then back at Meri.

"Where are your shoes?" he snapped, so suddenly and so loudly that both Meri and her mother flinched.

"They tore." Meri answered, speaking the first thought that came to her mind. "I outgrew them, so the last time I tried to put them on, they ripped…"

Kasumaru's nostrils flared in anger, and he glared down at Meri. It took every nerve in her body to keep Meri from looking away.

"Did I not just buy you shoes three months ago?" he demanded.

It was a one sided question, never meant to be answered without consequences…Meri usually didn't recognize one sided questions until _after_ they were answered, though.

"It was two years ago, actually."

She saw Kasumaru raise an arm, and suddenly, she was on her back, the skin on her cheek tingling and her jaw throbbing horribly from where he had hit her. She cringed and brought her knees up to her chest, holding her arms over her head in protection, cowering in fear.

"Kasumaru – NO!" her mother shrieked. "Leave her be!"

"STAY OUT OF THIS, HITOMI!" the voice of her father yelled back, echoing through the cavernous building. Meri heard the sound of skin colliding with skin with great force, and the grunt of a woman, telling Meri that Hitomi had been slapped as well. Then, there were footsteps. Angry, powerful footsteps, slowly making their way away from Meri and Hitomi.

Minutes passed by. Horrible, agonizing minutes where the two sat, cowering silently, in fear that Kasumaru would still be there, and would strike them again should they move.

Eventually, the two stood up…slowly, ever so slowly, looking around as they did so. They glanced at each other for a moment, yet Hitomi turned away quickly, hiding her face.

"Go to your room." she finally choked, her voice quiet and wavering.

Meri nodded and walked away, climbing an elegant marble spiraling staircase up to the second floor of her home. A beautiful hallway met her teary blue eyes as she ascended. The hallway was decorated extravagantly, just as the rest of the home was. Beautiful carpets and tapestries lined the floor and walls, with delicate designs and intricate patterns lining them all. The whole overall effect would be breathtakingly beautiful to anybody but her. She walked wearily down the hallway, dragging her feet along the carpet, and turned to the second door on the left, slowly turning the handle and pushing the door open. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

Her room was boring. Extremely boring. But in comparison to the hallway outside, it could've just been a blank white abyss, which Meri usually considered it to be. Her room was about forty square feet, something considerably small for a woman of her age. She had no closet, no windows, no desk, no chairs. Simply her room and a bed. The walls were a light gray. The floor, ceiling, the bedspread were all gray. Everything was dull…except for her pillow. Meri's pillow was a smooth, sky blue, standing out against everything else in the room. She walked over to her bed and collapsed onto it, burying her face deep into the beautiful blue fabric of her favorite thing in the entire house.

Tears flooded her eyes, but she did not allow them to fall. Meri had never cried since she was seven years old. Not once. For as long as Meri had remembered, her face had never experienced the touch of salty tears since then. She had cried about being made fun of at school…and her father had stopped feeding her for a week, as a mere child, telling her to stop her nagging. She knew that if she ever cried, her father would punish her even more severely than he had then. Meri never cried. Not even alone.

And then, there were footsteps.

Meri's heart stopped beating. It couldn't be her mother, who had gone off to her own separate room at the other end of the house. Besides, her mother's footsteps were lighter, and quieter. These ones grew closer with horrible thuds against the floor. Closer, and closer…finally, Meri's door flew open with a loud bang and her father stepped inside.

"Get up!" he spat. "The middle of the day is no time to be sleeping."

Meri did as she was told, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up, staring pointedly at the floor near her father's feet, heart beating rapidly. She could feel a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead, and thanked the Lord for having hair that could hide it.

"Meri." he began, his tone low. "I do not tolerate _lies_." He hissed the last word, elongating the s and lowering his voice so that he was barely heard. "I will give you one more change. _Where are your shoes?!_"

"I left them at Itachi-sensei's." responded Meri, her mouth dry.

At the word 'Itachi,' Kasumaru's stance changed. His eyebrows arched up and his muscles relaxed. Itachi Uchiha, an extremely talented shinobi, nearly as famous as him, ought to be held in the highest regard.

"Ah." he said, his voice now higher and much more casual. "I see….and what, might I ask, would cause you to leave in such a hurry that your idiotic mind would forget to do such a simple task as putting on shoes?"

Shit. The one question Meri was eager to avoid appeared almost immediately, and she still hadn't thought of a way to answer.

"He…" began Meri.

Double shit. If there was one way she shouldn't have started that sentence, that was probably it. Kasumaru's eyes narrowed.

"He what?"

"He didn't do anything." Meri said quickly and breathlessly. "We, I mean…I…well…he didn't…he—"

"I can see through you, Meri." her father whispered, cutting her sentence short. "You know what happened the last time you lied to me. Tell me the truth. Did he do anything to you?"

There was no other option.

"He kissed me."

Meri bit her tongue, waiting for her father's reply. Her face turned crimson and she stared down at the floor…only now realizing that the last sentence was one of the biggest mistake's she had made in her life. 'He kissed me.' had sounded like he forced her into it. 'We kissed.' would have earned her a beating, but at least Itachi would be free from her father's terrible wrath. Saying, 'I kissed him.' would be as good as saying, 'Please kill me,' she decided. But anything, _anything_ would have been better than saying that Itachi Uchiha had kissed her.

"I see." he finally answered. "In that case, I shall have him executed in a week's time."

Now, _that_ was an answer Meri was not expecting to hear. Kasumaru had already begun to walk away when Meri spoke up, trying to recuperate from the shock the last words had given her.

"Father!" she exclaimed. Kasumaru froze with one hand on the doorknob. "Isn't…that's illegal!"

Kasumaru's brow furrowed.

"I can pull a few strings here and there." he said with a grim nod. He turned the handle and had stepped out the door when Meri cried out once more,

"Father, you can't!" she screamed, her voice constricted with emotion. Meri's vision was blurred completely now from the tears swimming in her eyes.

But they would not fall.

"Oh?" Kasumaru stepped out of the door and made to close it behind him, almost as a gesture of finality. "And why not?"

"Father, NO!" Meri cried out, collapsing onto her bed in a sense of hopelessness, holding her forehead in her hands. "Father, I love him!"

Only this sense of emergency could have forced Meri to say those words, admitting her feelings in front of the one person who she wished were dead.

"I see." Kasumaru replied, now closing the door, engulfing Meri in a blackness that reflected her current mood. And then, her father's voice spoke again from the other side of the door.

"In that case, I shall have him executed no later than tomorrow."

--

DUN, DUN, DUNNNN!

. 

Sorry for the cliff-hanger type ending. I love making people wait. Oh, and I know I've been acting sort of isolated from fanfic, but I'm still alive! At least, I think I am!

…I was alive the last time I checked, I'm sure of it.

Yeah…anwayzzz, I know this chapter is really short, and I was going to put it with the next chapter, but they didn't really fit, so I gave it a chapter of it's own. I'm really sorry it took so long. Yeppers! So, Please, please, please PLEAE R&R. T'would be most appreciated.

Bored-ism.

(Oh yeah, I'm also trying to think of a better pen name. When I got this one, it sort of was my mood at the current time, and I'm getting kind of bored with it. LOL, BORED! Okay…so, if you've got any suggestions for a cool new pen name, feel free to PM me, or if you like this one, just PM me and tell me to keep it. I'd really appreciated that. Thanks.)


	10. Feelings

A/N: Ahh! The cheesiness! DX I suck at love stories, I tend to fit in a lot of cheesy lines. I swear, I almost hurt myself after the chapter where Itachi kissed Meri…if there are any more cheesy lines, please, throw sharp pointy objects at me.

Disclaimer:

I do not own Naruto…can I own Gaara? …no? Oh well. I guess it's back to fantasizing.

--

Fugaku normally acted cold towards Itachi, but tonight, Itachi could've sworn that Fugaku was going to lash out and kill him.

It had taken Itachi at least two hours worth of convincing to assure his father that he had indeed _not_ kissed Meri, that little brothers normally like to mess with their sibling's and father's minds, and that he would never do such a thing, for he was not attracted to Meri in any way at all.

Itachi never knew he was so good at lying.

Perhaps Fugaku didn't believe him, though, for he kept throwing cold and threatening glares in Itachi's general direction as the family worked around the house that night, tidying up from lunch.

Later in the night, around 11 pm or so, Mikoto had put Sasuke to bed and was currently busy wiping down the kitchen for the hundredth time. Fugaku and Itachi sat silently together in the living room just off the front foyer (I know I probably spelled that wrong. So sue me), each with a book in hand. Though every time Itachi looked down, he felt a piercing glare burning a whole in his forehead. He snapped up his head, looking at his father, but found him calmly turning a page of his book. Sighing, Itachi bowed his head again.

This cycle repeated itself countless times for about half an hour when there were two sharp raps of knuckles on wood coming from their front door. Both Fugaku and Itachi slowly put down their books and turned their heads. Who could be calling at this hour? Exchanging glances, the two men nodded to each other. Itachi stood up and made his way over towards the door.

As he was about to open it, he noticed a pair of blue sandals still sitting by the door.

_Must be Meri's._ he thought, reaching for the cool metal door handle. _I'll return them later._

Itachi twisted the knob and pulled open the door, finding three ANBU members standing there, looking grave and mysterious.

"Itachi Uchiha." one said, in an extremely deep, but almost reassuring voice. (Think Kingsley Shacklebolt.)

"Yes?" he asked, staring at all three with narrowed eyes, his face blank. The three glanced at each other before another member turned to him and said in a higher voice,

"You are under arrest by order of Lord Umeko."

_Umeko?_ Thought Itachi, his narrowed eyes widening as he stared at the three ANBU. _Meri?!_

Unknowingly to Itachi, his father was standing right behind him.

"Is there some type of problem?" Fugaku asked calmly, addressing the first ANBU who had spoke.

"We have an order from the feudal lord Kasumaru Umeko to have your son placed under arrest, Mr. Uchiha."

Kasumaru Umeko. Umeko. Meri Umeko. Fugaku made the connection as quickly as Itachi had. His face drained of all color and he glared at Itachi.

"Go." whispered Fugaku.

"Father?"

"GO!"

--

Itachi awoke the next morning with one thing in mind.

Prison was _not_ fun.

He was kept in a very small cell, with a small lumpy bed in one corner, a sink and a toilet in the other. Two ANBU guards stood by the wall outside of his cell, each standing stone still. Their arms were crossed against their chest, and they stared straight ahead. It was impossible to detect any trace of movement, and no matter how hard Itachi looked, he could not see their chests rising and falling with each breath they took. He began to wonder if the guards were real or not. Of course, Itachi could easily figure that out with his sharingan, but it would probably be a bad idea to activate such a powerful kekkei genkai in a prison cell. Itachi sat on the edge of the bed with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, staring fixedly at the floor.

Why did Meri have him arrested? From Itachi's point of view, there was only one logical answer. The kiss. He had never regretted anything more than he did that, if he hadn't kissed her, none of this would have happened…but did she truly hate him enough to go home and tell her father to have him arrested, just for kissing her? No, Meri wasn't like that. Perhaps this wasn't Meri's fault at all.

Itachi looked up when he heard footsteps approaching his cell. The first thought he had was that it was somebody passing by – or it could have been Meri! Itachi stood up and made his way over towards the bars of the cell.

Suddenly, a figure appeared.

"Yo."

Itachi strained his eyes in the dim light to see who it was. Finally, they focused on a familiar face.

"Shisui!" Itachi yelped. "What…what are you doing here?"

Shisui chuckled.

"What, a guy can't visit his best friend in jail?"

A ghost of a smile passed over Itachi's face.

"Sorry, then."

"Nah, no problem." Shisui disregarded Itachi's apology with a noncommittal shrug. "So…rumor has it you got arrested for knocking up that one rich guy's daughter."

"WHAT?!"

"Just a rumor, just a rumor." Shisui assured him. "So…she's not pregnant?"

"NO!"

"Okay...did you rape her?"

"NO!"

"Any sex?"

Itachi glared at him, and Shisui shrugged.

"I'll take that as a no, then."

Shisui was not your normal Uchiha. He appeared calm, cool, and collected in the company of others, but when he was around trusted friends and family, he relaxed a bit, not ashamed or embarrassed to speak his mind. Itachi was one of the few people alive that knew Shisui Uchiha was actually a pervert.

"But if you're ever gonna get in jail again for girl-related trouble," Shisui began once more. "It had better be sex. Because trust me, it's worth prison."

Itachi stared at him.

"Well, it is!" Shisui insisted. Itachi closed his eyes and shook his head.

"So, if it wasn't sex – which it should have been – and it wasn't pregnancy, then why the hell are you in here?"

"I..kissed…her."

Shisui gaped at him.

"You kissed a girl and this is what you get? Damn, what's wrong with people these days? A world without kissing girls is like…like a world without air!"

It was then that Itachi truly began to ponder what he was smoking when he actually befriended Shisui, What in hell was he thinking, looking up to this pervert? And then, he decided to voice his thoughts.

"You know, Shisui." began Itachi in an annoyed tone. "Sometimes I wonder—"

But his sentence fell short as the two Uchihas heard the sound of approaching footsteps. They were rapid and grew ever closer by the millisecond. Itachi barely had a moment to register what he was hearing when all of a sudden his vision flashed light brown, and an arm shot through the bars and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him forward against the cool metal rods in an attempted hug. One glance down at the newcomer and Itachi knew it was Meri. He reached his arm through one of the gaps between the bars and wrapped it around her shoulders in response, but then remembered the ANBU members standing nearby, and patted her on the back. Meri still clung to him as though her life depended on it.

"_This the girl?_" mouthed Shisui. Itachi nodded, and the older Uchiha flashed Itachi the thumbs up, grinning suggestively as he turned to leave.

Finally Meri relinquished her hold on Itachi, stepping back and examining him with teary eyes.

"I am so sorry." she whispered. "Father forced it out of me, and I couldn't lie to him or else…Itachi…I didn't mean for this to happen! They can't do it, it's illegal! I've talked to the Hokae and it's ILLEGAL, ITACHI! I can't believe they're going to try to…I've talked to father and I didn't know what else to do so I..and…the…father…ILLEGAL, and—"

"Meri, not to be rude, but shut up." Itachi cut in. Meri did just that.

"Now, take a deep breath and explain to me what you're trying to say." he instructed. Meri closed her eyes and inhaled deeply through her nose, exhaling even more deeply from her mouth before she opened her eyes and whimpered,

"They're going to kill you."

Somehow, Itachi was not surprised.

"Why?" was his calm answer.

"I…I told father that I loved you," she admitted, too worried to blush, "And he said he'd execute you. But I ran away and went to the Hokage, he's coming down here now, there's no way they can execute you!" she cried. "They can't!"

"Meri, calm down, I know." said Itachi soothingly. Meri whimpered again, like some sort of wounded dog, her eyes sparkling with tears. She moved over towards the bars and leaned on them. Itachi walked forward and brought his arms through the gaps and wrapped them around Meri's shoulders, holding her as close as the iron-rods would allow.

He didn't care that two ANBU guards were standing right there. He didn't care that the Hokage would be coming any minute now. He wouldn't even care if his father or Meri's father walked in on the two of them. She had admitted that she really truly did love him, and that was all that mattered. Itachi's brain no longer buzzed with the thoughts that Meri was just playing with him – she loved him, she said it, and he knew that she meant it. Life was bliss.

(A/N: -commits suicide- I HATE THE WORD BLISS!)

Itachi pulled apart slightly, looking down at Meri as he continued to hold her. Bringing up his right hand, he brushed a strand of hair out of her face, and cupped her cheek. He lowered his head and again their lips met. They kissed for what seemed to be years, Itachi brought his other hand up to the back of Meri's neck, and she reached up and draped her arms over his shoulders. It was the most intense and passionate kiss either of them had experienced. That one gesture of affection said every word not yet been spoken, words of longing and apology, all understood as their lips pressed together harder still.

But something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. This moment, this kiss was what Itachi had been waiting for. His heart was supposed to flutter and his stomach was supposed to flip over in glee. And yet, neither happened. Every impulse, every nerve in Itachi's brain told him to pull away, break the kiss as soon as possible. Something in this picture was wrong. What it was, Itachi had no idea. But he had to pull away…he just had to…

Before Itachi could do anything more, the Hokage cleared his throat to announce his presence to the two. Meri let out a soft scream and jumped back away from Itachi about three feet, whereas Itachi let his arms fall to his sides as he stared politely at the Hokage's weary expression.

"Itachi." he said, nodding a greeting to the prisoner. "Miss Umeko." he nodded to Meri as well. He eyed the two for a moment, before clearing his throat and beginning to speak.

"Itachi, I deeply apologize for all of the trouble Lord Kasumaru has put you through. Believe me, I would never in a million years allow somebody to be imprisoned and assassinated for such minor offenses."

The Hokage nodded to one of the ANBU guards, who moved forward and performed a handsign. The door of the cell swung open on creaky hinges. Itachi stepped out.

"I will be talking to Lord Kasumaru about these previous events." the Hokage continued. "On no circumstances is he allowed to arrest without permission of the Hokage or one of the council first. As for you, all of this criminal history will be cleared from your record, and you are free to leave whenever you wish. No harm done."

Itachi exhaled silently and bowed gratefully to the Hokage.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

The Hokage nodded once more. Then, he beckoned Itachi over and held a cupped hand up to his mouth, as if about to whisper something. Itachi moved over, and the Hokage hissed in his ear,

"Though, do try to be a bit more careful. Lord Kasumaru can be a bit over protective. He wishes that his daughter will marry into a rich family. If you're going to become involved with his daughter, try to keep it private, for both of your safety."

"Thank you, sir."

--

Itachi was blinded immediately as he and Meri stepped outside, the sun flashed violently in his eyes, a dramatic change in lighting in contrast to the dim cell. He squinted and held a hand over his eyes, and to his left, Meri did the same. Neither wanted to return home quite yet, so the two made their way to the base of a tall elm tree, sitting down in its shadows.

"I suppose we'll need to go home soon." remarked Itachi after a long period of silence in which the pair stared up at the fluffy white clouds rolling through the baby blue sky. It was another perfect day, but both of them were too shaken to appreciate it.

"I'd rather not." Meri admitted shakily. "Father didn't know I was here…I mean, he could just assume that the Hokage found out…"

Itachi could tell how terrified Meri was of her father just by that last sentence. Her voice had grown softer and colder, her face went pale and her hands twitched once or twice. Itachi could only begin to imagine how terrifying Kasumaru really was.

"Also…" Meri whispered, but she trailed off. Itachi turned his head to look at her.

"Also?"

Meri gulped and sighed, before turning to Itachi.

"Father wants me married as quickly as possible."

Clearley, these words did not have the impact on Itachi that Meri thought they would. He continued to stare.

Meri was clearly angry. She stood up, arms crossed, and faced Itachi.

"Either you don't care about me anymore, or you're not the genius everyone says you are. Don't you know what I just said?"

At this last statement, Itachi was shocked.

"Care about you?" he asked. "I never once said I cared about you."

The last sentence was true, of course, but it didn't mean Itachi didn't have feelings. He may have been a great ninja, talented, smart, cunning, swift. But when it came to women, he was as clueless as any other male.

Meri gaped at him, looking horrified and hurt all at once.

"You kissed me!" she exclaimed. "Twice! Doesn't that mean anything? Don't you love me?" 

Itachi was now on his feet as well, though again, Meri's words shocked him and he felt his knees shake.

Do _I love her?_

The question hung in the air around the supposed couple. Yes, they had kissed twice. Yes, Itachi had feelings for Meri. Yes, he would do anything to protect her. But love? He did, he most certainly did!

…didn't he?

"I…I don't…I don't know." he stammered.

Meri's gaping expression faded, her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed together.

"Oh."

A pause.

"Alright then." Meri exhaled, before turning and walking silently away.


	11. Sahiro

Author's Note:

Yay for new chapters. No, I'm not dead or anything, I just sort of have a life OUTSIDE of fanfiction…or so says sabakunobaka and Meri.

--

"Are you ready yet?"

"Yes sir."

"Well, then, come downstairs NOW."

Meri's fists clenched nervously at the urgent sounding tone in her father's voice. Before setting off downstairs, she took one last look in the mirror.

This was not Meri. This was an alien girl with angelic beauty. Her skin was pale and soft, glowing like the light of a full moon. Her hair had been pulled back into an elegant bun, but two silky bangs hung near her cheeks, framing her delicate face beautifully. White eye shadow adorned with snowflake like silver sparkles sat above each of her pale blue eyes, and dazzling white teeth peeked out from in between her pale pink lips. She wore a sleeveless, high-necked dress, matching her eye shadow, as white as fresh snow.

_That's what it reminds me of._ Meri thought, disgusted at this unnatural beauty. _Winter. IT'S AUGUST._

Meri walked down into the main room, and greeted each of her parents with a delicate curtsey, just as her father had instructed her. Hitomi looked teary eyed – either because of her daughter's radiance, or because she did not approve of what as going to happen. Kasumaru smiled approvingly at Meri, possibly for the first time in his life. Then, he leaned backwards and glanced out the window.

"Ah. He's here."

_He. He_ was coming. Meri hated _him_, even though she'd never met _him_ before. But if things went according to her father's plan, _he_ would become her new fiancé, and she would have to live happily ever after with _him_ for the rest of her life.

_His_ name was Sahiro, apparently. Sahiro Kyou.

Oh god, Meri had never heard of such a stupid name.

Of course, it wasn't the name or the person that she despised. It was the fact that he was chosen by Meri's father that made her angry. It was all a lie, her father didn't care about her and wanted to see her married and happy, he just wanted to get her away from Itachi, that "filthy peasant," and that was all he cared about.

Three knocks shattered the painful silence of the room. Kasumaru strode purposefully to the door and thrust it open, greeting their guests with a warming smile and a loud, happy booming voice.

"Ah, greetings, greetings, Mr. and Mrs. Kyou, it is truly an honor to have you in our home!" he said happily as an older, stern looking couple crossed the threshold and entered into the Umeko's parlor.

"Ah ha!" Kasumaru laughed. "And you must be the young Sahiro that your parents have said many, many good things about!"

A young man, only about twenty, stepped into the room.

_Oh my._

Meri's eyes widened, and then narrowed back to their original position, fearing that she would look rude. She stared at Sahiro, and he smiled back.

Meri had never, ever, not once in her life seen a man who looked more handsome, more beautiful, more attractive. Sahiro had dark brown, neatly kept hair that hung to his ears, and deep, chocolate eyes that sparkled as he stared at Meri. His tan skin completely contrasted with Meri's winter-like form, and his teeth shone just as brightly as hers. He had an oval shaped face and a medium sized nose, face and mouth. How could something so average appear so handsome? And if it weren't for that, he was wearing a simple yet elegant black tuxedo with a blood red rose tucked into the pocket.

He bowed to Meri, but his eyes stayed glued to her face, never looking away from her. Meri curtsied in response. One he had straightened up, he took her right hand very delicately and kissed it.

"It is an honor to meet you, Miss Umeko."

_Oh god, now his voice too? Is _everything_ about him perfect?_

thought Meri. His words were soft and gentle, yet they still were deep and masculine. They poured from his mouth, soft and thick like honey, and flooded Meri's brain.

_This man has been sent from heaven._ Meri finally concluded.

But none of it mattered. Meri only had eyes for a specific Uchiha. Sahiro and Meri were to go on a date, get along, blah blah blah, everyone's happy. If he didn't please her, Meri's father would just have to find another suitor.

"And you, Mr. Kyou." Meri replied, inclining her head and speaking as though she were a queen. "And please, do address me as Meri."

Sahiro straightened up and smiled.

"In that case, please call me Sahiro."

"I will."

Kasumaru beamed.

"Well, the night is young, and you two have got reservations at the finest restaurant in Konoha, courtesy of your parents, Sahiro."

Meri could obviously see that her father was trying to kick the two of them out, and so could Sahiro, so he bowed politely.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Umeko. I shall have her home before eleven."

Kasumaru laughed.

"Oh, keep her!" he boomed, before bursting into more laughter. "Ha, just kidding, just kidding. The time does not matter, my dear boy, just bring her back in one piece. Have a good night!"

And with that, he shuffled them out the door and then closed it quickly behind them.

Sahiro cleared his throat.

"Um…well…" he said slowly, awkwardly holding out his right arm. "…shall we?"

Meri took his arm, her white face turning pink.

"Of course."

They walked for a little while, each casting a glance at each other every once in a while.

_Oh god, I feel stupid._ Meri thought. She had _taken his arm_, for crying out loud. For goodness sake, she was not royalty, and she wasn't about to act it either. It didn't feel natural.

Sahiro cleared his throat again, more violently this time. Then he coughed.

"Er, excuse me." he said, his voice now much higher. He turned away, hands in his face. His back began to shake, as if in silent sobs. Meri's eyes widened. _Have I insulted him?_

She walked forward and placed a hand on Sahiro's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

He turned to her. And, instead of tears streaming down his face as Meri had expected, he was smiling hugely, his back shaking in laughter, not sobs.

"I'm so sorry, Meri." he said, calming down after a minute. "It's just, I'm not royalty, and I'm not very good at acting it. I feel really stupid like this, and…I mean, even the idea of me in a suit is unthinkable. Yet, here I am…I apologize dearly, Meri, but…well, the situation is very amusing to me."

Meri's eyelids slid open even more, gaping at Sahiro in silent horror.

_I could not have said it better._ she thought. _And he's truthful…and NORMAL!_

Sahiro winced slightly at Meri's horrified expression, thinking he had insulted her. "I apologize, I really, really do. I can just leave now if you'd—"

"No!" Meri exclaimed. "Don't leave! I feel the same, Sahiro."

He let out a sigh of relief.

"In that case, please, give me one sec." Sahiro began to walk away. "Follow me."

He led her to a small, private forest with a small brook running through. Here, he took off his tuxedo, revealing a casual t-shirt and jean shorts. Then, Sahiro bent down to the brook and splashed his face with water, getting rid of the small amount of makeup that had been forced upon his naturally handsome face. Meri followed his lead, and ripped off her dress, revealing a simple pair of khaki shorts and a white tank top. She was always expecting the worst, so an extra pair of clothes was on the top of her list of "Things to have with you 24/7."

"Hmph." Sahiro said after he stood up, watching Meri bend down and start washing off her makeup. "Thank goodness for my paranoia. I always have a change of clothes."

"Same here." Meri said, smiling as she looked fondly at Sahiro. She couldn't believe how well this was working out.

_Someone up there must like me…either that, or they're taunting me with a dreadfully wonderful dream._

Sahiro laughed.

"Ah, I feel the same way. Aren't things working out great?"

Meri stared at him.

"I said that out loud?"

"…well, yes."

"………..oh."

Sahiro smirked.

"Don't worry. I do that a lot as well. Now, let's go…"

The rest of Sahiro's sentence was drowned out by the buzzing in Meri's ears. He was handsome. Funny. Nice. Smart. And, he was exactly like Meri, they had so much in common. To put it simply, Meri Umeko and Sahiro Kyou were perfect for each other.

But Meri only had eyes for another.

And unknown to Meri, so did Sahiro.

"Does that sound like a good plan?" Sahiro finished, and Meri looked up, startled. Of course, she had not been listening, but she nodded anyway.

"Excellent. Like I said, I doubt that the restaurant will make contact with your father or mine if we don't show up for our reservations. Most restaurants of that type normally don't care and simply give up the table."

Sahiro paused, eyes traveling towards the darkening sky as he thought.

"I've heard that Konoha makes great ramen…?" he eventually asked. Meri smirked.

"Are you thinking of Ichiraku's?"

Sahiro nodded.

"That's the place! Well, what do you say? Does ramen sound good?"

"Ramen sounds great."

And with that, Meri and Sahiro set off towards Ichiraku's, side by side and smiling hugely.

Ichiraku's restaurant was surprisingly empty for late on a Sunday night. The only other two occupants sat in one corner of the restaurant, a brunet-haired jounin with his hair back into a ponytail and a large scar across his nose, smiling down at a boy wearing bright orange pants and a navy t-shirt, accompanied with green goggles on his forehead.

"Irrrruuuuuka-sensei!" whined the boy. Meri assumed that he couldn't be any older than Sasuke. "Can I pleeeeaaaassseee have one more bowl? Pleeeaaasssee?"

_So that's Iruka._ Meri thought as she and Sahiro sat down. Meri had hear of Iruka once or twice through her father – goodness knows how many times Iruka had been blackmailed through Kasumaru.

Iruka smiled.

"Of course, Naruto-kun."

Meri's eyes widened, but she said nothing.

_One of my father's victims, and the nine-tailed fox child. Fancy meeting them here._

"What do you want for dinner, Meri? I'll go order." Sahiro asked.

"Oh, um, just a plain bowl of ramen is fine for me."

"Alright. Be right back."

Sahiro left and walked towards the counter to place his order, while Meri stared curiously at Naruto. Of course, she didn't realize that Naruto had been staring back until he leaned over and whispered loudly to Iruka,

"Sensei! That pretty girl is looking at me!"

Iruka looked up and spotted Meri.

"M-Miss Umeko!" he said, half-bowing in his chair. "Please excuse him, he's really quite young—"

"No problem, Iruka-sensei!" Meri chimed, smiling across the room. "How's the ramen?"

Seeing that Meri was nothing at all like her father, Iruka relaxed slightly.

"Pretty good. Of course, Naruto seems to be enjoying it more than I am."

"Heh heh heh!" chuckled Naruto.

"That's good. So you really like ramen, huh Naruto-kun?"

"Yep!"

Meri smiled.

"So…who is he?" Iruka asked in a quieter tone, gesturing to Sahiro.

Meri shrugged.

"My date, I guess."

Iruka nodded.

"I guess that this means that any rumor involving you and Itachi can be stamped out, huh?"

Meri's heart skipped a beat.

_Does the whole fucking __village__ know?!_

She shrugged and sighed, rolling her eyes in an over-dramatic way.

"Rumors."

Iruka smiled, and then spotted Sahiro, who was heading back over to the table. "It was nice talking to you, Miss Umeko."

"You too, Iruka-sensei."

Sahiro placed a bowl in front of Meri, and one in front of himself before sitting down.

"What was that about?"

Meri shrugged.

"Just a friend…" she paused, and continued. "See that kid in the orange?" Meri whispered. Sahiro nodded. "He's got the nine-tailed fox."

Sahiro's eyes widened.

"A jinchuuriki?" he whispered. Meri nodded.

"I see." replied Sahiro. "We too have a young boy in our village with a sealed demon. We call him Gaara-sama."

Meri raised an eyebrow, and poked at her ramen with a pair of chopsticks.

"Sama?"

"Hai. Recently…he, well, sort of cracked. He's been killing villagers at random recently." Sahiro said in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh my." gasped Meri. "Is he…I mean, what demon?"

"The one-tailed Shukaku. And unfortunately for Gaara-sama, his Bijuu causes chronic insomnia. He has never slept once in his life. That may have added to the pressure…also, his siblings are afraid of him, and rumor has it that the family member that he lived with recently died trying to kill him."

Meri winced.

_Poor child._ she thought, and she tried to think about what it was like. Having your childhood ripped away from you because you were feared by everyone you loved, something that wasn't even your fault. The boy couldn't even sleep! _How horrible._

"Sahiro?" asked Meri. "As much as I find this interesting – I really do – can we please talk about something more cheerful? I mean, I'd really rather not talk about…well…"

"Of course." Sahiro said immediately. "It's also quite uncomfortable for me as well. I should never have brought that up."

"No, it's fine. I just wanted a change of subject."

Sahiro smiled.

"Alright, I've got a question for you, then. What is the purpose for your father setting up this date?"

_Dammit! He could've asked ANYTHING, and he had to ask that!_

"Well…" Meri said slowly. "It's sort of a long story."

"We've got nothing but time."

"Are you sure? I mean, you may think poorly of me afterwards."

Sahiro's eyes softened.

"How could I think poorly of someone so beautiful?"

Meri's face reddened.

"Sahiro, please don't." she said suddenly. "I…well, I haven't been completely honest with you tonight."

And before Meri knew it, she found herself talking, telling Sahiro everything. From the moment when her father told her about the lessons, to the moment when she stormed away from Itachi after the prison incident.

"I was just so confused." she said, her voice cracking.

_Oh god I'm making myself cry._

"I thought he said he loved me, he kissed me twice, and then when I tell him that father wants me with somebody else, he treated the news like it was nothing, and then he said he didn't care about me!"

Sahiro's soft brown eyes showed nothing but compassion and understanding.

"And now I feel like a total idiot, dumping this all on you like you were my mother or some sort of therapist." Meri put her face in her hands. "Oh god, you must feel so awkward."

Sahiro cleared his throat.

"No…Meri, I understand how you feel."

He coughed again.

"The truth is…I haven't been completely honest with you either."

Meri picked up her head, and found that Sahiro had raised his left hand. A small ring, so tiny that you could barely see it, sat on his ring finger. The color matched his skin tone perfectly, it was almost invisible, and it took Meri a few seconds to notice it.

"I'm married." he confessed, folding his hands together on the table in front of him. "My parents don't know yet, I've kept it hidden, but if they found out that I was married to someone of a lower class, I'd be disinherited."

Meri's hand covered her heart.

"Oh, that is so romantic!" she said. "I'm sorry, Sahiro."

He smiled.

"Don't be. I'm quite happy with her, and despite the difficulties of keeping our relationship hidden, I love her very much."

Meri's eyes widened suddenly. Iruka and Naruto had left long ago, but she suddenly remembered the Jounin's words…

"_I guess that this means that any rumor involving you and Itachi can be stamped out, huh?"_

"Sahiro, this works out perfectly!" she exclaimed. "We could pretend to be dating, therefore, your parents won't be suspicious about your wife, and my parents won't be suspicious about Itachi!"

Sahiro's eyes widened as well as he saw the brilliance of this plan.

"Meri, that's a great idea! Now, come!"

Without further explanation, Sahiro jumped up from the table and walked briskly out of the restaurant. Meri followed closely behind him, not questioning his actions. They walked for quite some time, until they had reached Meri's house. Sahiro glanced inside one of the windows and found Kasumaru staring out at them. Then, right there in front of the window, Sahiro placed a hand on the side of Meri's face and kissed her, soft and gentle. It didn't last for more than a second, he broke apart and winked at her. Meri smiled.

"Goodbye, Meri."

"You too, Sahiro."

He bowed, she curtseyed, and they departed, Sahiro walked after his parents who had just left a minute earlier, and Meri ran inside.

"Where is your dress?!" was the first thing Meri heard as she closed the door behind her. Meri turned to face her father, and was shocked. Despite his loud, angry voice, he was smiling.

"Never mind that, off to bed, now!"

Meri ran upstairs, her father calling up after her,

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU THAT THIS WOULD WORK OUT?!"

--

**Itachi stared at Meri's front door with wide eyes, her shoes from the other day in his right hand. He had simply come to return them, and instead of receiving a bright smile and a warm, "thank you!" from Meri, he now would have to walk home with the image of her kissing that stranger, burned into his mind.**


	12. Finally

Author's Note:

Author's Note:

I know I can't write, okay? The last chapter was so blech. Oh well. Hopefully this one will be better….probably shorter, like a LOT shorter, but better. I have the ULTIMATE writer's block………..

Hard rock melts your brain. REALLY! I was listening to an Avril Lavigne song on my iPod (My Happy Ending), and I got all this inspiration for writing this story, so I was getting out my laptop to write and I put on some Three Days Grace (suggestion courtesy of SabakuNoBaka), and it was like – BAM! Inspiration gone.

So, I don't think I'll be listening to them for a while. D

Disclaimer:

Kishimoto may own Naruto, but I will soon own the world. Muahaha.

--

Itachi Uchiha, though a brutal ninja who would kill mercilessly, never, ever would do something morally improper or disrespectful. No eavesdropping, no rumor spreading, no spying. He would have none of it.

So, Itachi Uchiha found himself questioning his judgment as he hid in a bush near Meri's house the day after he saw her being kissed by that stranger.

It was late at night, around 10, the time when Meri had been escorted back home by _him_. It was unlikely that she would be seen again with that man tonight, but Itachi had to check. He had to be sure. Itachi needed to reassure himself that he dreamt what he saw, that none of it was real. His eyes swept the landscape over and over again, combing the area for any sign of life. Leaves rustled. A squirrel hopped from one tree branch to another. Each little movement sent a shiver down Itachi's spine, paranoia beginning to settle in on his mind. Yet, he was confused.

_What do I want to see?_

The truth was, he was waiting for a sign of Meri, he wanted to see her walking home, he wanted her to pass the bush where he was hiding so he could be in her presence, feel her happiness, smell the flowery fragrance that was her shampoo. But Itachi knew that Kasumaru would never let Meri go out alone. The only way Itachi would be able to see Meri now was if she was with the stranger. And seeing Meri with another man was the last thing he ever wanted. So…Itachi was not 100 sure whether he wanted to see Meri or not. All he was 100 sure about was the fact that he wanted Meri more than anything right now – for his eyes only, and no one else. He wanted to hold her close, pressing her body firmly against his, arms wrapped tightly around each other's backs. He wanted to bury his face in her hair and sigh deeply as she rested her head on his shoulder.

And then, it happened. What he had been dreading and wanting walked right past him. Meri and the stranger. Hand in hand.

Itachi's eyes narrowed, and his body tensed like a drawn bowstring.

_Dammit._

The man led Meri right up to the front window of her house, directly next to the front door. Itachi glanced inside – Kasumaru was settled comfortably in an armchair in the living room that was directly off the front hallway. He had a proper view of everything.

And, like the night before, Sahiro's hand came to the side of Meri's face. He bent down and kissed her again. Itachi, if possible, tensed even more. The kiss was longer this time, and though in reality it lasted only about five seconds, it seemed like lifetimes in Itachi's mind.

When they finally broke apart, Itachi was outraged to see a large smile on both of their faces.

"I'll see you again tomorrow, Sahiro." Meri said.

"You as well, Meri."

With that, Sahiro turned and walked away, right past the bush where Itachi was so cleverly hidden in. Meri, on the other hand, turned and walked into her house, that stupid smile still plastered on her idiotic face.

_That….bitch…_

Itachi had never, not once, been more angry than he currently was. He would've torn down the door and yelled at Meri before going off to kill Sahiro if it weren't for his common sense. He immediately stood up and sprinted away from Meri's house, wanting to get away as quickly as possible, and simply running out of rage. His house was on the other side of town, so he was running for a good five minutes before he entered his front door.

You know how people say that counting to 10 will calm you down? Well, Itachi Uchiha can tell you that he just counted to 300, and tricks like that don't really work. It took every single cell in his body to fight the urge to slam the door behind him, for it was late and Sasuke was sleeping. Mikoto would become angry for waking Sasuke, and Fugaku would simply become downright suspicious. Instead, he closed the door calmly behind him. Without taking off his shoes or announcing his arrival to either of his parents, he marched directly into his room, threw himself onto his bed and breathed angrily into his pillow, like a pissed off thirteen year old. He stayed like that for a minute or so, before he heard his door creak open. Itachi lifted his head from his pillow.

"You're home." Mikoto said plainly, eyes searching her son for anything out of the ordinary. She was obviously worried about him, like any mother should be if their son mysteriously disappears for three hours and then comes back genuinely pissed off.

"Yeah." Itachi replied, acknowledging his mother's last statement with a curt nod.

"Where were you?"

"I was just out getting something to eat." Itachi lied simply, shrugging his shoulders and allowing his head to flop back onto his pillow once more.

"Alright." Mikoto said, obviously buying it. Why wouldn't she? Her son was the Uchiha clan prodigy. Smart, cunning, swift, talented, honest. He would never lie.

Silence followed closely after. Neither spoke for what seemed like ages in both of their minds, until Mikoto cleared her throat.

"Um," she said, as if unsure where to begin her sentence. "The third wishes to see you tomorrow. At noon. We received a message from him today."

Itachi could've asked why the third had wanted to see him, whether it was a mission, or whether it was about Meri, or delivering something for him. He could've asked anything, but his mind was filled to the brim with other thoughts, so he remained silent.

"Goodnight." Mikoto said stiffly, and she walked from the room.

Once the door was closed completely, darkness flooded Itachi's room, excluding the small line of light coming from the crack under his door. Itachi sighed once more in anger, forced his head down deeper into his pillow, and managed to finally shut his eyes, awaiting a night of restless sleep.

--

As it turns out, Itachi slept quite well for some unexplainable reason. And besides the fact that he slept well, he actually slept quite a lot. Itachi's eyes slowly slid open in the morning, and he waited a few seconds for them to focus before looking at the clock mounted on his wall above the door.

At first, he blinked. He had clearly read the time incorrectly. So he looked again.

It was the same as before, 11:45.

"Shit!"

Itachi ripped back his covers and stumbled out of his bed. He flung open the closet door and grabbed a shirt and pair of pants at random. He changed quickly, before running into the kitchen and grabbing an apple, slipping on his shoes, and bolting out the front door.

The trick to walking down the streets in Konoha was agility. You had to be swift and accurate, or else you would be swept up by the crowd. Now that it was around midday, Konoha's streets were flooded with an unusual assortment of villagers. Inuzukas, Uchihas, Akimichis, and Naras flooded the streets. Even the isolate and shy Hyuuga clan had appeared. Those who were clanless mingled with the rest. It was always crowded, but barely ever this crowded. Itachi just supposed he had bad luck, as he weaved in and out of the sea of villagers. He had abandoned his apple long ago, and now his only goal was to get to the Hokage's office on time. He glanced around for a clock, and soon located one.

_Damn! Five minutes…_

And, by some miracle – or perhaps it was his desperation to be punctual – Itachi broke free of the crowd, and he took off sprinting.

--

"Come in, Mr. Uchiha."

Itachi obeyed the voice coming from the other side of the giant oak doors, and he grasped one of the cool brass handles and pulled. He stepped inside the door, and let it close with a soft thud behind him.

"Have a seat." said the third Hokage, sitting behind a large and extravagantly decorated mahogany desk. Itachi walked forward and sat down in one of the armchairs stationed in front of it.

"You wished to see me, Lord Hokage?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did." answered the Hokage simply, inclining his head in acknowledgement to Itachi's question. "I have a mission for you, Mr. Uchiha."

Itachi said nothing. He waited for the Hokage to continue.

"As you may not know, we believe that the organization of S-Ranked criminals who call themselves the Akatsuki is becoming a bit restless once more." the Hokage paused to take a breath, and then spoke again. "We believe that they may be changing location to a place in the mountains near the country of Iwagakure."

The Hokage reached forward and grabbed a scroll from his desk, and held it up for Itachi to see.

"This scroll," began the Hokage, "contains crucial information pertaining to the Akatsuki's whereabouts. I need you to travel to Iwagakure and deliver them to a man called Yukitamaru. Itachi, you are the only person in this entire village that I would trust with these scrolls."

Itachi nodded, and in response, the Hokage held out the scroll to Itachi.

"You are to leave this Saturday morning. It is currently Thursday, and I believe that one and a half days is more than enough to prepare. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"You are dismissed."

Itachi stood up, and temporarily stowed the small scroll in his weapons bag. Without turning around and wishing the Hokage a good day, or anything of the sort, Itachi left.

He walked back home, mind racing. It would take a week to get to Iwagakure if he traveled nonstop. But that would be literally nonstop. He had to stop and sleep. So say a week and a half. But he would obviously need to spend a week in Iwagakure trying to locate Yukitamaru. A week and a half times two plus a week. That would be a whole month.

And, much to his distaste, Itachi found himself thinking about Meri again. He had barely left her alone for a week, and already she had fallen in love with another. Imagine if he were to be absent for a month. God knows what would happen. He couldn't leave without telling Meri…he loved her, yes Itachi loved her. He had finally made his decision and he was sticking to it, and he wasn't about to lose Meri to someone else.

So, Itachi went home and packed. After that, he sat down in the living room and thought. He was devising a plan, coming up with a clever way to get Meri back, thinking of ways to tell her his true feelings, scheming against that Sahiro.

No. Not really. He was just…thinking.

Hours flew by like speeding bullets, and before he knew it, Itachi was lowering himself down onto his pillow again, once more falling into the deep hypnotism that were his dreams.

The next day, Friday, he devised a new plan. He woke early and trained until late in the afternoon, preparing himself for the month long mission soon to come. But instead of going home and eating a large dinner and sleeping early to build up his stamina like any sensible ninja would have, he made a detour.

Itachi needed to sit and think without worrying about being interrupted. He needed a place that was quiet and peaceful where he could be alone. Itachi needed some breathing room.

And he new just the place.

--

The meadow was almost twice as beautiful as he remembered it, grass rippling gently in the wind like ocean waves, wildflowers sprouting up in random places, giving the landscape the effect of a beautiful canvas. The sun was now lowering in the sky slightly, blue fading to pink. And there it sat, the oak tree under which Itachi and Meri had nearly shared their first kiss. He made his way over to it, sat down, and closed his eyes.

"Hey there, stranger!"

Itachi's eyes snapped open a millisecond after they had closed, a kunai was in his hand in an instant, and he was on his feet in a defensive stance immediately. But that voice…he knew it was no threat.

A figure fell from the tree and landed on it's feet right in front of him. Meri stood up and brushed herself off.

"Sorry if I startled you. I come here a lot, so I'm not used to company."

Itachi stared, and put his kunai back into his weapons bag.

Meri beamed, clearly happy to see Itachi again, despite their argument the last time they met.

"So what's up?" she asked.

Itachi's eyes narrowed.

"What's…up?" he asked. "What's up?!"

Meri's smile fell off her face.

"I'll tell you what's up, Meri! I don't see you for a week and I come to give you your shoes and I see you with somebody else! A week, Meri, a week! I can't believe you tried to cheat on me!"

Meri gaped at him.

"Cheat on you?" she asked, suddenly angry as well. "Cheat on you?! Itachi, are you out of your mind? According to you, we were never going out! According to you, you never loved me!"

Now it was Itachi's turn to gape.

"I never, ever said that!"

"Well, that's what I heard, so then what the hell did you mean?!"

"I SURE AS HELL DIDN'T MEAN THAT I DON'T LOVE YOU." Itachi yelled. "I was confused, Meri, alright?! Or am I not allowed to have 'conflicted emotions,' as you so delicately put it? What, am I not allowed to be human?"

"Well, normal 'humans' think before they say things like 'I never once said I cared about you,' even if they don't mean it!"

"You know what else, Meri? Normal humans don't turn around and start kissing other men in public after they haven't seen the man who loves them in SEVEN DAYS!"

"You don't understand, Itachi! You've got no idea what's going on with Sahiro and me!"

"Oh yeah, THEN WHY DON'T YOU EXPLAIN, HUH?"

"If I tried, YOU WOULDN'T FUCKING LISTEN!"

"How do you know that I wouldn't?!"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE A JACKASS!"

Itachi suddenly grabbed Meri's waist and pulled her close to him, bending down his head and forcing his lips onto hers. She kissed him back with equal ferocity, grasping the back of his head so tightly that there would be marks there for weeks. Itachi, feeling bold, let his tongue slide through his lips and into Meri's, exploring every corner, every pocket of the insides of her cheeks. A few seconds later, and Meri did the same.

Finally, after what seemed like years, their lips broke apart, though they still clung to each other as though the fate of the world depended on it.

"Dammit, Itachi." Meri whispered, struggling to catch her breath. Itachi's chest was rising up and down heavily as well. In his many years of being a ninja, he had never been so out of breath. But despite the lack of air in their lungs, Itachi kissed her again, this time harder, if possible. A chill ran down Meri's spine. This was Itachi, but it wasn't at the same time. The first two times they had kissed, it was soft, passionate, and gentle. This new, violent Itachi was totally foreign to Meri. But she loved it. Meri opened her eyes for a brief second – they had somehow ended up on the ground, lips still locked tightly. But she didn't bother wondering as to how they did. She closed her eyes again and wrapped her arms tighter around Itachi's back, he did the same around her waist. He bit down hard on her lip, causing the skin to break and a little bead of scarlet began to pour from it. Before Meri could do anything about it, Itachi licked it off. It tasted like metal. Meri moaned softly.

Itachi brought a hand up to her cheek, and slowly slid it down along the side of her body, following every curve she had, sliding his hand under her shirt and bringing it down low on her waistline. She shuddered, and for a moment, Itachi thought he had offended her somehow. He withdrew his hand slightly – and suddenly found Meri's hand grasping it and pulling it back towards her waist instead. He smirked, and began to kiss her again. Suddenly, he felt something. Itachi glanced down to see Meri's fingers fumbling with the zipper on his pants. Taking the hint immediately, Itachi tugged on the hem of her shirt. Meri lifted her arms over her head so it'd be easier to take off. It wasn't long before all of their wind-cooled clothes were removed and forgotten.


	13. Apology

A/N: w Just got a PM from someone saying that my last chapter was really disturbing. Glad that I could scar you for life. D

Shorter chapter now…I'm just trying to post as much as I can…

Disclaimer:

Deidara belongs to Sasori, my cat belongs to me, Icha Icha Paradise belongs to Jiraiya, and Naruto – sadly – belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

….after typing this, has anybody realized how WEIRD the word "belong" is?

--

Green blurred Meri's vision. She blinked, and her eyes slid into focus after a few seconds. The green that she was seeing was nothing more than the underside of thousands of overlapping leaves, creating a beautiful canopy above her. Tilting her head back, she spotted the twisted tree trunk that the leaves were attached to. It took her a moment or so to realize that she was in the meadow.

_Why am I…?_

She began to question herself, but stopped short as memories of the previous night flooded her mind. Meri looked down at herself, and winced. Itachi's shirt was draped over her like a blanket.

_Damn._

A few seconds later, she heard a voice from beside her.

"No."

She turned. Itachi's eyes were wide open, staring straight up ahead at the tree.

"No." he repeated. Itachi pushed himself into a sitting position and stared at Meri.

"We…no, we didn't." he said, his voice dry and hoarse. "That was a dream."

Meri too pushed herself up, still holding the shirt to her bare chest.

"Yes…we did." she said quietly.

"No!" Itachi said suddenly, eyes growing wide. "Meri, listen, I'm sorry!" he leapt up and ran over to the pile of clothes. He quickly pulled his pants back on and tossed Meri her clothes in exchange for his shirt. 

"Oh my god…" Itachi brought a hand to his face and he covered his eyes, sighing deeply. "Meri, this is all my fault. We never should have…no, I never should have, I forced you into this—"

"No, Itachi, don't blame yourself, it's my fault…" Meri said, pulling her shirt on.

"No, it's not…Meri, please listen to me," Itachi said desperately, pulling his shirt on over his head. "I wasn't myself last night…I didn't know what I should have done…I took advantage of you!"

Meri shook her head, standing up.

"I could have stopped you had I wanted to." she said. "Itachi, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

"No…" Itachi shook his head, and ran a hand through his hair, obviously distressed. "Meri…we…I'm sorry…we really shouldn't have done that…"

"I know…we're too young, we weren't thinking, and now I can no longer honestly say that I'm a virgin."

Itachi blinked.

"I forgot this was your first time…" he said slowly. "Dammit, Meri, that makes things worse! I didn't hurt you, did I? Does anything hurt, can you walk alright?"

Meri stood up, now fully dressed.

"It's alright, Itachi. I'm just a little sore, but that's normal, right?"

Itachi winced.

"Meri, I am so sorry."

"I know already, you've apologized at least five times now." Meri pointed out. "You don't have to be sorry, we were both idiots, alright?"

Itachi nodded, and slipped on his shoes.

"We can just talk about this later today." suggested Meri, following Itachi's lead and also slipping on her shoes. Itachi shook his head.

"I can't, I'm going to be leaving for a mission today, so—"

_The mission!_

"Meri, I've got to go!" Itachi said suddenly, snatching up his weapons bag. "Can you just…please tell me, quickly, what's happening between--?"

Meri sighed.

"Sahiro is secretly married, so I'm pretending to date him so his parents won't be suspicious about his wife, and he's pretending to date me so father won't be suspicious about you."

Itachi exhaled.

"Thank god…Meri, I really, really have to go…just please promise me that you won't fall in love with him while I'm gone."

Meri walked over to Itachi and hugged him.

"I promise."

She pulled apart, and looked up at his face.

"How long will you be gone?"

"About a month."

Meri frowned.

"Meri, I feel horrible…" Itachi began again. "If there's anything I can do to make up for what I did…."

"_You_ can promise _me_ that you'll hurry up and come home soon." Meri said simply, kissing Itachi lightly on the cheek. She pulled apart, and stared him straight in the eye.

"I love you."

Itachi stared back.

"I love you, too."

Meri's heart skipped a beat. He had finally admitted it, finally said the words that she had been longing to hear since the day they first began training. Back then, it was just a wild fantasy, pushed into the gloomy corners of her mind because she knew that it would never become fulfilled. But now, it was a reality. Her one and only dream was actually coming true.

Itachi pulled her into a close hug for a brief moment, before tearing away from her and sprinting off, jumping into one of the trees and then leaping into the next, disappearing from Meri's view.

She sighed, and dusted off her shirt with her hands, making an attempt to straighten out the wrinkles that had appeared due to the shirt being balled up and tossed aside so carelessly. She made a sad attempt to neaten her hair by tucking it behind her ears and flattening it with her hands. With that, she sighed and began to walk.

The weather was unseasonably warm for mid-august. The leaves were still violent shades of green, not a single one had begun to turn, you could examine a leaf for hours and discover not a single speck of brown, red, or yellow on it's tips. It was going to be a late fall this year, Meri knew it. Fall would come soon, and it wouldn't bother taking it's time either. Somebody would go to sleep with green trees and a clean lawn, only to wake up the next day and look out their window to find completely bare trees and a lawn with brown leaves layered over every inch of grass. And as quickly as fall would roll in, the temperature would drop. Mother nature was being evil, tormenting them with warm, sunny, and bright whether. The villagers would get used to it, buying numerous tank top and short sleeved shirts, and then suddenly – COLD. Meri, unlike the other villagers, appreciated this odd weather pattern. It was harsh and violent, unforgiving. It could appear calm and collected when it wanted to, and then suddenly something unexpected would happen. It became predictable over the years, but still, you never know quite when it would suddenly lash out at you and change dramatically.

It took Meri a few seconds to realize that the description of the weather she had formed also fit her father.

It also took her a few seconds to realize that she was standing at her front door. She blinked.

_Guess I was just so lost in my thoughts…_ Meri thought, reaching out a hand and pulling open the front door. _…about the weather. Jesus Christ, I'm lame…_

Once she had closed the door quietly behind her, Meri walked into the living room and flopped down onto the couch, burying her face deep into a pillow and sighing deeply into it. It didn't take long for fatigue to overcome her mind. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she allowed them to close, drifting into a peaceful and well needed sleep.

And, of course, sixty seconds later, Kasumaru walked into the room, spotted Meri, and started yelling.

"What are you doing on the couch?!" he barked. Meri jumped and her eyes flew open. She jumped up quickly, wincing slightly as she did so.

"Why did you just cringe? Why were you sleeping? Where were you last night? Why didn't you show up for your date with Sahiro? Why is your shirt wrinkled? Why is your hair so messy?" Questions flowed like a river from Kasumaru's mouth, Meri could only stare as he finished. "MERI, WHY ARE YOUR PANTS ON INSIDE OUT?!"

Meri blinked.

"ANSWER THE QUESTION." Kasumaru spat.

"Um…which one, father?"

"ALL OF THEM."

"Alright…" Meri took a deep breath, and thought up something quick. "I needed to wash this outfit because I was going to wear it on my date with Sahiro. We don't have a washing machine, so I took it to the Konoha Laundromat on Kyashu street. The machine wouldn't take my change, so I couldn't get my clothes out. I was sitting there for a while, waiting for the worker to try to fix the machine, and eventually it got late and I fell asleep. The chairs there aren't exactly comfortable, so that's why I fell asleep on the couch, and that's why my hair is messy. I cringed because my legs are sore from sleeping in the chair. I was so tired this morning that I wasn't concentrating on what I was doing, that's why my pants are inside out."

It was the most complex, intricate, outstanding lie she had ever told.

Kasumaru glared at her.

"Meri." he said simply. "You are aware that I own many Konoha businesses."

Meri nodded.

"I can simply ask them if you were there – and despite the 'customer policy,' they will have to answer to me. If I found out you have lied, then you are no longer welcome in this house."

"That is fine with me, father." Meri said, making her voice louder and more confident. Kasumaru eyed her for a moment.

"Alright then." he finally decided. Hopefully, the confidence in Meri's voice would keep him from asking the Konoha Laundromat if she really was there. After all – if everyone in Konoha was too terrified to lie to him, then why would his own daughter do such a thing?

"Right….room, now."

Meri bowed, and walked silently up to her room, closing and locking the door behind her. And suddenly, she was overcome with emotion, and she threw herself down onto her bed and shoved her face into her baby blue pillow, back shaking with sobs. Or perhaps you wouldn't call them sobs. Just hyperventilation. Meri's face was completely dry, not a single tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. She hadn't cried in about ten years, and she wasn't about to start now. This continued, until Meri had "cried" herself to sleep.


	14. Encounter

Author's Note

Yay for new chapters!

Disclaimer:

……………………………..I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING. –cries-

--x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x—

Itachi was impressively far from the village before he decided to rest. He stopped at a small, isolated pond in a small cluster of trees. Itachi stripped quickly and hung his clothes on nearby branches before climbing into the pond and washing himself – cleansing not only his skin, but his mind. He wanted to forget Meri. He needed the smell of her skin to be washed away from his, her smile out of his mind, her laughter out of his ears. All that mattered to him now was the mission – deliver the document.

That was what they taught you in the ANBU – the mission always came first, that was the number one rule. The second rule was to never leave another member behind, which Itachi thought was a bit hypocritical. What if a member's life was in danger, should you save the mission or save the member? Itachi would have hands down chosen to save the mission. After all, that was the first rule, not the second. Others may have thought differently, but Itachi knew he was right. Right now, he was no longer who he was last night. He now became Itachi Uchiha – prodigy of the Uchiha clan, not some random 18 year old who went around having unprotected sex with people after only knowing them for a short time.

He finished bathing and climbed out of the pond, drying himself quickly before redressing. And without doing anything else, he took off. Iwagakure was a good 12 days away, but if Itachi hurried, he could make good time. He expected to be there in about seven days. And, based on his former calculations, the mission would take at least a month – if everything went as planned. Of course, there were obstacles. Why wouldn't there be? He was a powerful ninja, delivering a top-secret document to a village leader about a gang of villains who were feared throughout the world. There was no way that this mission could possibly go smoothly. Along the way, someone was going to try to stop him – that was just the way it was. So, Itachi had to be on guard. Even as he slept, he kept his chakra levels high, almost as an animal flares it's wings to make itself seem bigger, more threatening. Every day, Itachi was cautious to the point of becoming paranoid, but he kept a steady hold on his emotions…well, most of them.

The mission was what mattered most. So was being on his toes. But every now and then, an image of Meri would fade into his mind.

_Remember the mission._ He scolded himself mentally. And the image of Meri would fade…only to fade back in a few minutes later. It was frustrating – Itachi found that every time he forced Meri out of his mind, the more he wanted to see her again…to apologize, to be forgiven for what he had done. But no, he wouldn't let himself to think such ways while in the middle of something as important as this.

The week passed by quickly, and in 8 days, Itachi found himself standing about a mile outside of a high, stone wall that surrounded Iwagakure. An ominous mountain range circled the village, looming over all of the buildings and casting shadows down upon them all. It was as if the village was in a huge crater, with mountains as the walls. Itachi looked around, it was dark, too dark for 4 in the afternoon. He supposed that the only sunlight this village got was around noon, otherwise, the mountains blocked the sun, and not a single ray reached the stony ground. He stared at the wall and was about to move forward again when all of a sudden, he became aware of two presences. Two forms of chakra surged behind him, each strange and foreign, nothing like that of a normal ninja. And these two beings, whoever they were, were making no effort to hide themselves. A head on challenge.

"Yo." he heard a voice, a seemingly young one. Itachi turned around.

Two men stood in front of him, clad in the same black robe decorated with red clouds. The Akatsuki. Each of the men were generally the same height, yet one was slightly taller. The taller male had completely hidden his face and hair in some sort of white cloth, and his narrowed eyes stared straight at Itachi – with black where white should have been and a huge, green iris. The other man was obviously concealing much less of his body, wearing no mask, and no shirt under his already half-open black robe – bare chest visible to anybody who laid eyes upon him. He did look incredibly young, with silvery hair and bright violet eyes, a smirk playing across his lips.

"Kakuzu, are you fucking serious?" asked the young man. The other one, Kakuzu, apparently, turned to face him.

"Yeah. What do you mean?"

"He's fucking fifteen years old, Kakuzu! Leader-sama said THIS is Uchiha Itachi?! IS HE FUCKING MENTAL?!"

"Hidan, kami, just shut the hell up!"

The silver haired man – Hidan, shot a glare back at Kakuzu, before turning to Itachi once more.

"We know what you have." he said simply and lazily, suddenly losing all rage as a more relaxed and cocky attitude overtook him. "And we need it…now."

Itachi stared.

"DID YOU FUCKING HEAR ME, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT?! WE NEED THE FUCKING DOCCUMENT!"

"Hidan, calm down!"

Itachi smirked – not because he was amused, but because he knew that it would enrage Hidan even further. And of course, it worked like a charm.

"YOU LITTLE FUCK—"

"Hidan, let me take him!" Kakuzu protested.

"NO. THIS IS NOT YOUR FUCKING FIGHT ANYMORE, KAKUZU!"

"Tsch. Fine. He doesn't have a bounty anyway."

With that, Kakuzu stepped aside and Hidan lowered himself into a fighting stance. Itachi grabbed a kunai out of his weapons bag and twirled it on his finger. Hidan glared, and Itachi glared back – each waiting for the other to make the first move.

"HA!" With a yell, Hidan appeared in front of him and attempted to plunge a kunai through Itachi's chest, but frontal attacks were useless. Itachi dodged the attack and jumped back, attempting to knock the kunai out of Hidan's hand with his own kunai, but Hidan jumped back as well.

"That was just a taster!" bragged Hidan, and he charged once more. Itachi countered his attack again. Now, the two were face to face, kunai pressing against kunai.

"Ah, he is the Uchiha." Hidan said as his fierce violet eyes stared into Itachi's now blood red ones.

Itachi lashed out at Hidan's stomach with another kunai. Hidan jumped backwards and into the air. Itachi smirked – that was a mistake. Itachi made several hand signs in the blink of an eyes, and brought a hand up to his mouth. A stream of blazing red fire spit fourth, and connected directly with Hidan's chest, sending him flying backwards.

"SHIT!" Hidan screamed as he hit the ground. He didn't move…he simply lay there. Itachi smirked – it was over now, and it had been easier than he had thought. Now he had to deal with the other one and—

"Hidan, stop playing with him and get back up."

Itachi glanced at Kakuzu, then to the body on the ground.

_What?_

And the body was gone in less than a second. There was a sudden swish of wind on his left and he felt his left sleeve tear open and his skin split, forming a small cut. He looked behind him and saw that the silver haired man holding a kunai that was stained with scarlet, Itachi's own blood.

"H-How?!" he asked as Hidan rejoined Kakuzu's side. "I…you were dead, I scorched your entire body and…?"

"HA!" Hidan began to laugh. "HA HA HA! Ha, fucking Uchiha! You underestimated me for the FIRST AND LAST TIME."

"You…you're immortal!"

"Took you long enough, hmm?"

Itachi groaned inwardly. He was _not_ expecting an immortal…they were sort of hard to kill. Now, he had to come up with a whole new battle strategy – dealing with an immortal, and a swift and powerful at that. Before he could start to form a plan in his mind, Hidan did the unexpected.

He brought the kunai, still scarlet with blood, up to his mouth and stuck out his tongue, running it gently down the edge of the blade.

"Ew. Hidan. Stop." Kakuzu complained.

"This is how I do my fucking ritual, you moron."

"But you don't have to consume the blood so seductively. It's just creepy."

Hidan glared at Kakuzu, and licked the rest of the blood off of the kunai, swallowing every last drop. Itachi had absolutely no idea what the HELL this man was doing, so he simply stared at Hidan while devising a plan in his mind. While Itachi was forming a plan, Hidan was drawing a symbol on the ground, a wide circle with a triangle inside.

_A summoning?_ Itachi thought. But no, instead of making hand signs, Hidan stepped inside of the circle. Slowly but surely, Hidan's skin color began to change. It faded from pale white to midnight black, white lines decorated his entire body in the pattern of bones – a living skeleton.

_What is he…_

"Ha." Hidan chuckled. "Ha. Ha! You're doomed, you FUCKING PRODIGY. Now…" he took a kunai out of his pocket and held it over his head, ready to throw. Itachi took out another kunai and prepared to block it.

"Witness the birth of pain!" Hidan yelled. And, instead of throwing the kunai, he swung it downwards and stabbed himself directly in the right thigh.

Itachi gasped and stared down at his own thigh, the pants were torn and a huge stab mark had appeared, pain shooting up his spine as warm blood trickled down his leg.

"What?!" he said as Hidan groaned with pleasure – he actually _enjoyed_ the pain!

"What are you?!"

"Me?" Hidan asked. "I'm—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Itachi lunged at him again despite his leg injury, gripping a kunai tightly in his right fist. In response, Hidan stabbed himself quickly in the left leg and in the stomach with the same kunai. Itachi gasped and doubled over again, the metal kunai clattering to the ground. He grabbed the stab wound in his stomach, trying to staunch the bleeding. Now both of his legs, his stomach, and his left arm were injured, pain shot through his body, and he glared up at Hidan. And again, he grabbed a kunai.

"He's coming again, finish him off." Kakuzu said lazily.

"I get to kill him?!"

"NO, you idiot! Leader-sama said keep him alive!"

"Dammit…fucking leader." Hidan mumbled. "Oh well….this'll be fun."

He raised the kunai again and brought it to his face. Itachi's eyes widened.

_Is he going to slit his throat?! Then I'll die for sure!_

But, Itachi would have rather slit his throat than experienced what happened next. Hidan took the tip of the kunai and thrust it directly into his left eye.

"AH!" Both Hidan and Itachi screamed in pain, though Hidan's voice faded quickly as Itachi's scream carried on. Hidan adjusted to the pain quickly, pulling the kunai out carefully as to not pull out his eye as well.

It was pain unlike any pain Itachi had ever felt before. His eye was gone, his brain shattered, a thousand blades shot into his skull behind his eye, blood poured from his eye, more and more every second. His yell faded after a while, his knuckles now white from being grasped so hard.

"UCHIHA-SAN!?" An unfamiliar voice called from a distance away.

"Shit! Let's get out of here!"

Before Hidan could make the hand sign to transport himself back to the Akatsuki hideout, Itachi used up every last bit of strength and sent the kunai in his hand flying towards Hidan. The kunai found Hidan and embedded itself in his forehead with a thunk.

"Ha! That won't harm me, you fucking Uchiha. Ha...dammit, that feels good."

"...are you sure that thing isn't in your brain?"

"Yeah...it is, Kakuzu."

"Ow. That would hurt."

"OF COURSE IT FUCKING DOES, YOU FREAKING ASSHOLE."

Kakuzu looked to his left. Three Iwagakure ninja were heading towards them, and fast.

"Let's get out of here." Kakuzu said, and he was gone in a poof of smoke, soon followed by Hidan.

Itachi grasped his head, the pain still shooting through his entire body. The blood from his eye collected in a pool around his head, soaking his long black hair with a thick, scarlet liquid. Only about 5 seconds later, the three Iwa ninja were in front of him.

"He's hurt." One stated. "We need to get him to the hospital immediately."

"Were those the Akatsuki?"

"I'm afraid so…"

Itachi cringed on more time, and every single drop of blood that left his eye caused the world to become a little fuzzier, a little darker. Within seconds, he was completely unconscious.

X—X—X—X—X—X—X

When his eyes flickered open, he was in an unfamiliar place. His head rested on top of a fluffy white pillow, and he was covered with an itchy woolen blanket. The room he was in was lit very dimly, only small bits of light entered through the windows. Itachi pulled back the covers and sat up, but very gingerly. He was sore unimaginably sore. He looked down and saw a bandage on his left arm, both of his legs, and around his middle. He didn't need to use a mirror or reach up to feel an eye patch over his left eye. Itachi didn't know how long he'd been asleep, or exactly where he was (he had guessed as much as a hospital, but otherwise he was clueless), or whether the Hokage had been sent word about him. The Uchiha was dying to ask a million questions, but knew it would be unwise to go looking around for someone in a foreign place, especially in his current condition.

There was a creak in the corner of the room, and Itachi looked up to see a medical ninja walk into the room.

"Oh good, Uchiha-san. You're awake." he said, walking over to Itachi's bed. Itachi simply stared at him.

"I suppose you'll want to be filled in on what's going on, hmm?" asked the medical ninja. Itachi nodded once.

"Alright."

The ninja sat down in the chair next to Itachi's bed.

"The moment we brought you into the hospital, we operated on your eye. You're a very lucky shinobi, Itachi Uchiha. Your eye is going to be perfectly fine, we've just got to let it heal. As for your other four stab wounds, well, it looks like you were hit pretty hard and deep. We were able to heal them, but it took a little more time and effort than it would have with normal stab wounds. Now, all you need to do is stay at the hospital a little bit longer until you're able to travel again, so you can go back to Konoha."

Itachi nodded.

"Have you delivered the document?"

"Yes."

"And how long have I been asleep."

"Three weeks."

"WHAT?!"

The ninja frowned.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Uchiha. We had to make sure that you stayed asleep for quite some time. Believe me, had you woken up earlier, you would have been in terrible pain. You are still sore now, I trust?"

Itachi nodded slowly.

"Imagine that, times three. Wouldn't you rather sleep?"

Itachi nodded.

"I suppose so, but…..I really do need to get home as soon as possible…the Hokage—"

"Has already been informed of your current condition."

"I was supposed to be back by now! I really have got to leave…" Itachi, for the first time in his life, sounded desperate. The ninja sighed.

"I'll see what I can do."

He got up and left the room, leaving Itachi alone once more.

_Three weeks._ He had been asleep for that long? Itachi was supposed to be in Konoha right now, with his family, or training…or with Meri…

An hour or so later, four ninja walked into the room, one included the medical ninja with whom Itachi was just talking to.

"These three elite ninja will escort you home." the medical ninja informed Itachi. "In your current condition, the journey should take an average of another three weeks. If you want to heal properly, you shall not go too fast, and will not travel too long of a distance each day, and refrain from doing anything to exerting when you arrive back at Konoha. Do you understand me?"

"Yes."

"Alright…goodbye, Mr. Uchiha."

The medial ninja turned around and left the room. Two of the other three supposedly 'elite' ninja walked up to Itachi and helped him out of his bed. It was embarrassing, no doubt, but he allowed them to help him. Soon, he had packed his things and was on his way.

The medical ninja was right, they did travel at an extremely slow pace, and Itachi was in such pain that half the time, he considered just stopping and staying in one place until all of the pain had faded. But he knew he had to get back to Konoha as quickly as possible, so the four ninja continued, two of them assisting Itachi as they traveled, helping him stand upright, walk, and all sorts of other demeaning things. And as they traveled, Itachi's mind wandered…he half expected himself to be thinking about Meri, but instead, new thoughts formed in his skull.

_I was supposed to be the most powerful._ He thought. _I am Itachi Uchiha, there isn't a person who hasn't heard of my power…so then why, why was I defeated so easily?_

It had taken Hidan all of 10 minutes to push Itachi near the edge. He could have died of blood loss, and he had put so much effort into fighting Hidan…but Hidan had defeated him, quickly, and easily. Were all of the Akatsuki this powerful? These thoughts ate away at Itachi's mind for the rest of the three weeks…he had thought himself powerful, up until then. What he could do with power like Hidan…the possibilities were endless.

With these new ideas, days passed in seconds, weeks transformed into minutes and all too soon, Itachi was standing at the gates of Konoha once more. It was colder here than it had been in Iwagakure, the air was frigid and a think blanket of snow spread across the ground. Two Konoha ANBU were standing at the gate, and bowed immediately at the sight of Itachi.

"Itachi-sama!" they said in unison. Itachi recognized them as men from one of his ANBU divisions.

"Thank you." he replied, inclining his head as well.

"This is where we leave you, Mr. Uchiha." said one of the Iwagakure ninja. "Good day." He turned around and sprinted away, followed by the two others. The Konoha ANBU members walked up to Itachi and gently took each of his arms, to support him as he walked gingerly back into his home country.


	15. Unnexpected

A/N: ……..Yup….-I am so braindead- This is a really, REALLY bad chapter. I haven't had much time to edit it, so if it sucks, you know why…

Disclaimer: …….Yup.

X—X—X—X—X—X—X

Itachi was transferred into the Konoha hospital as soon as he checked din with the Hokage. He was on the way to making a steady recovery, now that he had already been under care in Iwagakure for three weeks. Just two more weeks of resting and medications, Itachi would be free to leave.

But two weeks of doing nothing but staring at a wall and sleeping seemed considerably dull in comparison to the things Itachi was used to be doing – but then again, it gave him more time to think about his newly formed ideas. Every time Sasuke came to visit him, which was more than often, Itachi would send him three blocks down to Konoha's library for books on illegal organizations such as the Akatsuki and the Uchiha clan. Sasuke, eager to help his older brother do anything, asked no questions, and brought the books to Itachi every day. Fugaku and Mikoto came to visit him as often as Sasuke did, Shisui dropped into say hello more than a few times. And every time his hospital door opened, Itachi would sit up and stare at it, eyes wide, only to slump back on his pillow when he discovered that it wasn't Meri.

One day, as the door creaked open again, Itachi didn't even bother to get up…he had sort of just lost hope. Meri wasn't coming and he knew it, so why even think about her? This time, it was a young man, no older than twenty. He had pale skin and a tall build, with deep chocolaty brown hair and eyes. The man walked over to Itachi's bed.

"Are you Itachi Uchiha?" he asked. Itachi nodded.

"And you would be…?"

"Sahiro Kyou."

Itachi sat up.

"Sahiro?" he asked. Sahiro nodded, and took a seat next to Itachi's bed.

"I came to thank you." he said. "For being so understanding. I know you love Meri, and letting her pretend to date me for the sake my wife and me, it is truly an honor. Thank you, very much."

Itachi stared at him.

"It is my pleasure, Sahiro." he said calmly. "After all, Meri and I are able to keep our relationship a secret because of you. If anything, we should be the one thanking you."

Sahiro smiled.

"Thank you, Itachi."

There was a silence, lasting only for a few seconds until Itachi spoke up.

"Have you seen Meri? I thought she'd come and visit me, but…"

Sahiro frowned.

"She's locked herself up in her house ever since Konoha heard the news that you'd been attacked by the Akatsuki and were under emergency medical treatment. She's been in a lot of distress, even I haven't been able to talk to her."

Itachi's heart sank into his stomach.

"This is my fault…" he said slowly. Sahiro raised an eyebrow.

"How?" he asked. "It's not like you purposely were injured…"

"No…if I had said a proper goodbye, she wouldn't be in so much stress…"

"Ah." Sahiro said curtly. "Yes…she told me of…what…happened the night before you left. She was quite upset…"

"Shit." Itachi slumped back on his pillow. "Can you get her? It's too late for her to come now, but send for her tomorrow. Please, Sahiro."

Sahiro nodded.

"It would be my pleasure…consider it a thank you, from both me and my wife."

"I will."

Sahiro stood up from the chair and left the room, looking over his shoulder and calling a short,

"Goodbye, Itachi." before he closed the door. Now that it was late at night, and Itachi was alone, he pulled out the book about Uchiha Clan Jutsu and began to read once more…he flipped open to a new chapter, entitled, _Forbidden Forms of Kekkei Genkai; Part 3, the Mangekyou Sharingan._ ((A/N: Tell me if I spelled that wrong.))

He read the chapter quickly, burning through each word. Completely engrossed by the subject, he flipped to the beginning of the chapter and read it again and again and again…

"_Ha ha! Welcome aboard, fucking prodigy."_

"_Will he be my partner?"_

"_You're partners with your fucking self, plant-boy."_

"_Hidan! Be quiet."_

"_Kami. Whatever."_

"_Itachi, I'd like you to meet your new partner, right over there. Introduce yourself."_

"_I am Itachi. Itachi Uchiha."_

"_Orochimaru."_

Itachi's eyes slid open slowly the next morning – left eye still slightly in pain. He thought about the dream he had just had…there were an assortment of people. Hidan, Kakuzu, a blue haired woman standing next to an orange haired man…a pale faced man with long black hair, a man that hugely resembled a venus flytrap, with one half of his skin white and the other half black. There was a man in an swirly orange mask, a blue-skinned man, a very large man who had the skin complexion of wood, a long silver tail poking out from underneath his cloak, and a man or a woman – Itachi couldn't tell, it was only a dream – with long blonde hair.

_What does this all mean?_ he wondered. Perhaps it was just the effect of reading a strange book before bed – but no, Hidan and Kakuzu definitely existed, which meant the others did too…right? Did this dream show the past…the future…? What on earth did it—

Itachi's thoughts came to an abrupt halt when the door to his hospital room swung open. Sahiro stepped in, but held the door open for someone behind him. There stood Meri, pale and worried as ever. She and Sahiro were bundled up in thick layers of coats and sweatshirts and scarves, protecting themselves against the constantly dropping temperature outside.

"Itachi!" Meri exclaimed, running up to his bed. Itachi, though sore, stood up and embraced her, wrapping his arms tightly around her shoulders. As they hugged, Sahiro went and sat down in a chair in the corner of the room, watching a butterfly float past the window as to not intrude on their privacy. When they broke apart, Meri was gasping.

"Oh my god, Itachi, I am so glad you're okay…I heard so many things about you, I was so scared!"

"Meri, I'm fine, just sore, that's all…" he said, sitting back down onto the bed as Meri took the seat in the wooden chair beside him.

"Itachi, please, tell me all about it!" she said. "I really want to know."

So, Itachi told her. He told her of the journey to Iwagakure and his battle with Hidan, and the fact that he had stayed in a hospital for three weeks unconscious, and how he needed the support of three elite ninja from Iwagakure to make it home. Every little detail from his mission poured out of his mouth and into Meri's ears.

"Right in the eye…?" Meri said, shivering. "Oh my god…Itachi…oh my god, are you okay?"

"I've told you, I'm fine."

"But did it--?"

"Yes, it hurt like hell, so bad I can't even describe it to you. But I'm okay now."

"Will you be able to use your sharingan?"

"Yes."

"Okay…good…"

Meri stared deep into Itachi's eyes.

"I was _so_ worried…" she whispered. Itachi reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Meri. I know you were, I know you must have been terrified. But look! I'm here right now, aren't I? I was just well enough to get out of bed and give you a hug, I'm getting out of this place in three days. Everything is FINE."

Meri swallowed, and nodded.

"So, Meri, apart from being worried half to death, what have you been up to since I was gone?"

"Well…you know, just same old, same old."

Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"Like what?"

Meri glanced back at Sahiro, who looked at her for a few seconds before standing up and leaving the room.

"Well…" Meri continued. "Just hanging out, doing normal everyday stuff."

"Uh huh." Itachi said, slightly amused at Meri's sudden awkward casual attitude. "Has your father been being nicer to you?"

"Not really. Like I said, it's been the same."

Itachi nodded.

"…really?" he teased, smiling. Meri looked down at the floor, and Itachi's heart stopped.

_What happened?_

"Meri…?" he asked cautiously. "Meri, are you okay?"

Meri looked up.

"Itachi…there's something I have to tell you…"

Itachi froze.

"What?"

"A few weeks ago…I went to the doctor…"

Itachi's eyes widened.

"…to get tested for an STD. I was showing some of the symptoms and I was afraid I had one."

"But I don't have any STDs." Itachi pointed out.

"How do you know?" Meri asked. "You could be a carrier."

Itachi pondered this.

"Good point. Continue."

"Well…as it turns out, I don't have an STD." Meri said.

Itachi let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh my god, Meri. Don't scare me like that."

Meri nodded.

"Sorry."

Itachi smiled.

"See, everything's fine. We've got nothing to worry about. You can continue to pretend to date Sahiro, I'm making a full recovery, you don't have an STD. Everything is okay."

Meri smiled as well.

"Yeah…well, I guess…"

Itachi leaned back onto his pillow, immensely happy at how everything turned out. After all of the drama, everything just seemed to fix itself.

"Itachi?"

Itachi looked up.

"Hmm?"

"The truth is…everything isn't okay…you see, while I was getting tested for an STD…I…well, I was told…Itachi…I'm pregnant."

Itachi stared at her.

_No. No no no no no this isn't real._

Just to make sure he wasn't hearing things, he spoke up.

"…what?"

Meri's eyes glistened with tears, and her voice started to crack.

"I'm pregnant, Itachi."

Itachi's heart raced in his chest.

_NO!_

"Are…are you sure?" he asked shakily, sitting up on his bed.

"I was tested by professionals, Itachi!" Meri yelled. "What part of pregnant do you not understand?!"

A single, solitary tear fell down Meri's cheek, the first in ten years, the first of many to come.

"Are…there's absolute proof? They didn't make a mistake…?" Itachi asked, now beginning to grow desperate. Meri unzipped her jacket and threw it on the floor, then pulling off her sweatshirt, and her t-shirt, stripping down to only her bra. She spun around to face Itachi, tears now flowing freely down her face.

"I think this is proof enough!" she choked, resting a hand on her abdomen. Indeed, a bump had just begun to take shape, one that was not at all noticeable with Meri's thick layers of clothing.

Itachi blinked, Meri's words ringing in his ears.

_I'm pregnant, Itachii._

"You're…you're going to have a baby…"

"Yes." she replied, just as weakly, sitting down on the bed next to him. Itachi wrapped an arm around her shoulders and allowed her to cry into his chest. He reached down with a pale and violently trembling hand and placed it on top of Meri's abdomen where the small bump was barely visible.

"How far…?" Itachi asked.

"Only about 10 weeks."

"And when…?"

"Sometime in July."

"….oh."

The room grew quiet, and the only sound in Itachi's brain was that of Meri sniffling and his ears ringing…louder and louder…

"I…" he began. "I don't know what to say…"

Meri was silent.

"Have you told your father yet?"

"No."

"Oh…well…" Itachi trailed off, trying to find the right words. But then again, what could you say in a situation like this?

"I should go." Meri said softly. "Before someone else comes to visit."

Itachi nodded and grabbed Meri's shirt, sweatshirt, and coat from the floor, helping her pull them on again before pulling her into a tight embrace once more.

"I'll see you soon." he whispered into her ear.

"Okay…" she whispered back. Eyes still red from tears, Meri turned and walked out of the hospital room. Itachi stared at the door for minutes after she left, the image of her still burned into his skull. All thoughts of the Akatsuki, power, the mangekyou sharingan, had been driven from his mind. Itachi walked back over to his bed and collapsed on it.

_Shit._


	16. Emotional

Author's Note:

FYI, this chapter is HORRIBLE. Like, REALLY horrible. I'm leaving for FL to visit my grandparents for Christmas, and I wanted to update before I left….so…it's horrible, just-ta-let-u-know.

Disclaimer:

-doesn't own anything-

X—X—X—X—X—X

Meri crossed her arms and hunched over, pulling her coat closer to her as she attempted to make it home without being blown over by the freezing wind.

_That didn't go well._ She thought, frowning as she walked. But then again, what else was she expecting? It's not like Itachi was going to smile and be happy about it…if he had, then the kunai had definitely done something to his brain. If normal people were upset about unplanned and accidental pregnancies, then there was no way that Itachi was going to accept it either.

_At least I told him. _Meri continued to speak to herself mentally. Imagine if she had kept it hidden from him – come four, five months later, he was bound to find out just by looking at her, and _that_ would truly be a disaster. Now, there was only one problem left for Meri to face.

She might as well tell her father when she got home, just to get it over with. If she told him now, all of the suspense would be lifted. She wouldn't have to worry about him finding out in a few months, and becoming violently enraged. She took a deep breath.

_It has to be today._

…but then again, there was the possibility that he would kick her out. Then what would she do? Meri's eyes narrowed in frustration, and her fists clenched in her pocket.

_Damn it all! Why do these things have to be so complicated?_

Meri pressed a hand to the small bulge on her stomach, which was completely invisible to everyone around her, thanks to her thick coat. She tilted her head and glared down at it.

"I hate you." she mumbled. Meri felt a sudden twinge of something, maybe guilt…or perhaps nausea. Feeling angry at herself, she rubbed her stomach again and murmured,

"I didn't mean that."

Her stomach – her real stomach this time, not the small bump, suddenly gave a violent twitch. Meri grew lightheaded, and quickly. She stumbled once or twice as she continued to walk home.

_I'm going to throw up…_ She cringed. So it _was_ nausea. _I'll just make it home, and then I can rest._

But she was overwhelmed with nausea in a matter of seconds, and stumbled again, tripping over her own feet. Meri darted off towards the side of the road and grasped the sides of a trashcan sitting outside a small jewelry shop. She leaned over it and coughed once or twice, before vomiting the very last contents of her stomach into the trashcan. When she had finished, she stood back up, eyes closed and breathing heavily – before leaning back over it and retching again.

"Miss?"

Meri looked up, a man had walked over beside the trashcan.

"Oh…sorry." Meri wiped her mouth on her sleeve and tucked her hair behind her ears, before taking seat on a bench only a few feet away.

"Miss Umeko, are you alright?" asked the man once more. Meri nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" she lied. Her intestines felt as if they had tied themselves up in knots, a cramp beyond any Meri had experienced. She took a deep breath in and out her nose, while she subconsciously brought two hands to her lower stomach. When she opened her eyes once more, she looked up at the man – a complete stranger who had come to help. But, she noticed that his eyes were not directed towards her face, but towards her hands, which were still resting on her stomach. Meri's eyes flew open, realizing her mistake. She drew her hands away from her stomach quickly and placed them on the bench beside her.

"Um…" the stranger said slowly, eyes still lingering on Meri's stomach. "…I'll just…go…now…" And he turned on his heel and darted inside the nearest restaurant.

Meri closed her eyes and moaned.

_Shit._

Based on Konoha's infamous reputation for wildfire-like (not to mention outrageous) rumors, every villager was bound to know Meri's secret even before she got home. Meaning, now she had no choice. She'd have to tell Kasumaru before word got to him, there was no way she could back out now. So, despite the excruciating stomachache, Meri pushed herself to her feet and began to walk home once more.

Finally, Meri spotted her large marble house and crossed the lawn, trudging up the front steps and knocking three times on the large mahogany doors before twisting the handle and pulling the door open. The moment she stepped inside, she heard her father's voice.

"Meri!" he called from the top of the stairs. "Where have you been?"

"Out on a walk." Meri replied as her father made his way down the winding marble staircase. He strode across the room and stood directly in front of her.

"…with Sahiro." she added, hoping this would help.

"Ah ha. Nice young fellow." Kasumaru said dazedly, staring past Meri's head and out the window. "You two getting along?"

Meri normally would have mentally questioned her father's insanity – Kasumaru was being a bit _too_ nice to her, but Meri knew that it was only because he wanted her to marry Sahiro.

"Very much, sir." Meri nodded. Kasumaru smiled, and then glanced down at Meri.

"Take off your coat in the house." he commanded. Meri glanced down at the floor and slowly brought a hand up to her zipper, but froze.

"Well?" Kasumaru asked impatiently, crossing his arms and tapping his foot as. "Take your coat off!"

"Father? Would you mind…" Meri began slowly. Her voice was low and quiet, her eyes staring fixedly at a mark in the floor beneath her feet. "…if I told you something first?" Before Kasumaru answered, Meri spoke up again. "It's quite important, sir, it really is. It will not take more than a minute or so of your time, and when I have finished, I shall do whatever you wish."

Kasumaru eyed Meri wearily for a moment.

"Go ahead." he sighed.

"Well, you know how I've been sick the past few weeks, and that I went to the doctor, and told you that he said I have the flu?"

Kasumaru gave a curt nod.

"Well…it wasn't the flu…"

"And I should care about this, why?"

"Because…father, the doctor wasn't testing me for the flu. You see, father…I'm expecting."

"…expecting what?"

Meri stared directly at the floor, bracing herself for a number of things that could possibly happen next. From in front of her, Meri heard Kasumaru gasp.

"Expecting?! Meri, you don't mean to tell me that you're….?"

Meri nodded, head still pointing directly towards the floor.

"I am."

Pain exploded suddenly on the left side of Meri's head, not far from her eye. Meri stumbled backwards and fell, holding an arm over her head and one in front of her stomach to prepare for Kasumaru's next blow. Meri, now trembling, slowly looked up at Kasumaru. His arm was raised over his head, open palmed as if he were about to slap her.

"Who?" He asked through gritted teeth. "Who is the father?!"

"S-Sahiro."

There was no way in hell Meri would have told him the truth about Itachi being the father of her child. If she did, Meri might have just killed herself on the spot instead of letting her father do it for her. She looked up, her father still held his hand over his head, staring down at her with immeasurable rage. And then, the unexpected happened. Instead of striking another blow, Kasumaru's hand fell limp at his side.

"Well." he said simply. "…well."

He turned, and left the room.

X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X

It had been a while since Meri had visited Itachi's house, but she recognized it immediately as it came into view. She walked casually up the front steps and knocked on the door three times. A few seconds passed, sounds of muffled footsteps and voices leaked through the door, before it swung open.

"Meri! How lovely to see you again!"

"Hello, Mrs. Uchiha!" Meri greeted the woman just as eagerly. "How have you been?"

"I've been holding up just fine, and you?"

Meri shrugged.

"I've been doing alright."

"So…are you looking for Itachi?"

"Yes, is he available?"

"Actually, he just went out to the library. I guess he just got so into books while staying at the hospital. If you have time, you are welcome to wait here until he gets back."

"Would that be alright with you, Mrs. Uchiha?"

"Oh, yes, of course. Why don't you come in?"

Mikoto stepped aside and held open the door for Meri, who was not more than a foot inside when she felt a blast of warm air.

_Looks like somebody is afraid of the cold…_ Meri thought as Mikoto led her into the kitchen and offered her a chair. Meri sat down, and Mikoto sat down across from her. They exchanged a few friendly words, the simple 'how are you,' and 'what's new?' After a few minutes, Mikoto asked Meri if she'd like to take off her coat.

"Um, no thanks, really. I'm fine."

"But isn't it hot in here? And that coat is so bulky."

"Really." Meri insisted in a very forceful tone. "I'm FINE."

A long, uncomfortable silence settled over the two of them.

"Meri, would you mind if I asked you something a bit personal?"

Meri felt her insides freeze.

"Not at all." she replied, a little stiffly.

"There have been…rumors going around about you. Normally I never believe such things, but because I know that you're such a nice girl, and a friend of my son, I was naturally worried."

Neither said a word, so Mikoto continued.

"If they indeed are true, I will not spread a word of it. You can trust me, Meri."

Meri's eyes traveled to the floor, where they lingered. Lying about it now would just seem stupid, and Mikoto was just being friendly…

"Yes, Mrs. Uchiha, I'm afraid they are true."

"Oh." A mixture of compassion and sorrow fell over Mikoto's face. "Meri, I'm so sorry. I take it that this was accidental?"

"Yes. It was."

"Oh, you poor girl." Mikoto reached across the table and put a hand on Meri's shoulder. "May I ask who the father is?"

"My boyfriend, Sahiro Kyou. He's visiting Konoha." One look up, and Meri could tell that Mikoto felt relieved. "No, Mrs. Uchiha. It's not Itachi. There have been rumors about us, but that flame has long since died."

"I see." Mikoto pursed her lips. "Well…are you going to keep it?"

"I guess I have to." Meri replied with a shrug. At that exact moment, the two women heard the front door swing open.

"Mother? I'm home!"

Mikoto leapt up from her seat and walked out of the kitchen. Meri, of course, took a little more time in attempting to stand up, before following Mikoto to the front hallway.

"Itachi, Meri is here, she's asked to see you." Mikoto cheerfully said to Itachi. Mikoto grinned at Meri as she walked up to Itachi.

"Well, I've got some cleaning to do, so I'll leave you two alone." Mikoto turned and left the room.

An excruciating silence followed. Meri looked straight down at the floor, hunching her shoulders and crossing her arms in front of her stomach, apparently trying to hide herself from Itachi, who was staring fixedly at a painting above Meri's head. Neither spoke.

"Um…" Itachi finally mumbled. "…hi."

"Hey." Meri replied weakly. She looked up and saw Itachi's eyes locked on her stomach, which had been swelling rapidly during the last few weeks.

"Um…you're at three months, right?"

Meri nodded.

"It's been two weeks since I visited you in the hospital."

"And…" Itachi gulped. "Are you…feeling…alright?"

"Actually, no. I feel like hell, it's been really bad." Meri admitted. "That's why I came here today. I'm going to get a check up to make sue everything is alright, and I want you to come."

Itachi blinked.

"Meri, I can't do that!" he hissed. "I'm not supposed to be the father, remember?"

Meri nodded slowly.

"Wait…I _am_ the father, right?"

"Yes!"

"Sorry, just checking." He took a deep breath. "Meri…I just can't. It'll look suspicious."

"But Sahiro's coming, he's posing as the father, you could be our escort or something!"

"It'll _still_ look suspicious." Itachi pointed out.

"Yeah, but it'll also look suspicious when you have to raise the baby with me!"

Itachi froze.

"You're keeping it?"

Meri nodded.

"Meri…kami, Meri. I can't do that…"

"Can't do what?"

"I can't raise a baby. I'm only eighteen—"

"I'm seventeen!" Meri protested.

"—and I've still got a life to lead!"

"So do I!"

"Meri…no." Itachi closed his eyes and shook his head. "I just can't…"

Meri glared at him.

"Well then." she huffed. "I'll see you around." She walked past Itachi, deliberately shoving into him with her shoulder as she exited his home. Itachi, defeated, leaned against the doorframe with his eyes still closed.

Meri walked quickly, weaving in and out of the crowds of people that she passed, and she started to run. She shoved her way past groups of people until she broke free of the busy crowd. Still, she ran. Only did Meri stop when she had finally reached her destination – the training grounds. She plunged a hand into her weapons bag, grasped the handle of a kunai and pulled it out. Meri threw the kunai with all of her might, aiming for one of the hay-stuffed dummies hanging from the trees. There was a soft thunk – the kunai had found it's mark, it was now sticking out of the head of the dummy.

Anger overrode Meri's emotions, she did not stop and marvel how she had actually thrown something on target. Instead, she threw another kunai, and another, and another, until she was doubled over, gasping for breath. This time when she pulled out a kunai, she did not aim to throw it. Instead, she stood up, and pressed the pointed tip to her swollen belly.

One stab, and this would all be over. The baby would die – the one thing that was putting her through this misery would wither and disappear. Meri stared down at the kunai and pressed it to her stomach a little harder.

She gasped and dropped the kunai as if it had turned white hot in her palms.

_What am I doing?!_ she thought. Meri slumped against a nearby tree and slid down into a sitting position. _I can't kill it…that would be horrible…not to mention I might kill myself in the process._

"God, I'm an idiot…"

She leaned her head back up against the tree and glared up at the sky.

"Shit…"


	17. Promises

Author's Note:

SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN SO LONG.

Disclaimer:

Need I say it?

After the meeting with Meri, Itachi seemed to shut himself away from the rest of the world. He trained all day, every day, sparring with Shisui until the tip of the sun had dipped below the horizon, and the night sky sparkled with billions of stars. Then, he went home and locked himself in his room, only saying a brief hello to his parents and younger brother. This went on for days and days and days…and after a while, Mikoto naturally became worried about Itachi, forming ideas in her mind about what could have lead Itachi to such strange behavior.

One night, as Mikoto cleaned up the kitchen from dinner – which Itachi had once again been absent to – she had a sudden realization, one that seemed so brilliant she couldn't help but gasp and smile to herself. She promptly placed the plate she had been washing in the sink, marched out of the kitchen, walked down the hallway and knocked on Itachi's bedroom door.

"Who is it?"

"It's your mother. Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Mikoto turned the door handle and pushed the door in – only to have it come to an abrupt halt when it was about an inch or two open.

"Oh. Sorry." said Itachi from inside the room. There were footsteps and shuffling noises, followed by one or two thuds. The door then opened the rest of the way.

"Yes, mother?"

Mikoto stared with quiet awe at the sight which has just met her eyes. There were books everywhere. Hundreds of books perhaps, stacked in piles and stored in every possible place around the room. There was hardly any space to walk on the floor – dressers had piles of books stacked on top of them, an open closet door displayed even more piles of books, the bed was already half occupied with them.

"Itachi?"

"Yes?"

"Is this what you've been doing? Reading?"

"Yes, mother. Studying, actually."

Mikoto raised an eyebrow at her son. He stared back with polite interest.

"May I ask about what?"

"About our clan. About the Uchihas." answered Itachi casually, walking back to his bed and sitting precociously down as to not knock over any piles. "I was curious about the extent of our powers, and wanted to learn more."

He smiled, and raised his arms.

"I didn't know that there was this much to learn, but I must say that I am utterly fascinated."

Mikoto glanced around the room again.

"I…see…"

"So, what was it you wanted to say to me, mother?"

"I…uh…well, to tell you the truth, I've got two things to tell you."

Itachi looked at her, his face blank.

"Number one, I was actually going to ask you why you were locking yourself in your room so much….now I know why, but at first I thought it was because you missed Meri."

Itachi made the smallest movement – his left pinky finger gave a miniscule twitch. Mikoto wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't been looking for that exact type of body language. Itachi was an expert at concealing his emotions – but Mikoto was his mother, she could see right through him.

"Do you?" she inquired quietly, leaning against his doorframe.

"As a friend." Itachi replied, perhaps a little too quickly, for Mikoto raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, it's a shame." Itachi started to talk again, trying to disperse of his mother's suspicious emotions. "She's only seventeen, it must be hard for her…I heard Sahiro feels awful as well."

"Mhmm…alright, well, I've got one more thing."

"Yes?"

Mikoto brought a hand to her forehead.

"You see, I promised Sasuke that when his little friends come over after school tomorrow, that I would make them something as a special snack, and—"

A smirk fell upon Itachi's face.

"You don't have the ingredients, do you?" he asked, causing Mikoto to smile in a humiliated way.

"No, I don't…I know it's late, but there's this all night convenience store on the corner of Kyuuri and Sachikana street. I need just _one_ bag of flour…would you mind--?"

"Not at all, mother."

Itachi stood up and walked over to Mikoto, hand outstretched. In response, Mikoto reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet, dropping it into Itachi's open palm.

"Thank you, honey." Mikoto said sweetly as Itachi walked past her, down the hallway, and to the front door.

"Don't mention it, mother."

"I love you!" she called. No response followed before the front door slammed shut.

X—X—X—X—X—X—X

The store was mostly empty, containing only three other occupants. A red-haired woman stood in front of a small rack of magazines, flipping through a few of them. Another chocolaty-haired man stood in a corner, shuffling through bags of what looked to be marshmallows. The third occupant was none other than the cashier herself, looking more bored and underpaid than ever. Itachi made his way over towards the aisle where the chocolaty-haired man was standing, now grabbing a tin of hot cocoa mix. Itachi's eyes scanned the shelves for a minute, soon finding what they were looking for. He grabbed the pack of flour and began to turn around when—

"Itachi?"

Itachi turned around to face the man that had called his name.

"Sahiro!" he exclaimed.

"Thought that was you." he said, smiling. "What are you doing out so late?"

Itachi held up the bag of flour.

"My mother is baking something for Sasuke's class, or friends or whatever, tomorrow, and she needed me to pick this up for her." he scoffed. "She's a procrastinator. And you?"

"I'm, uh…" Sahiro held up the hot chocolate mix and the bag of small marshmallows. "Meri wanted me to get these for her."

Itachi froze.

"She's staying with you?"

Sahiro nodded.

"Her dad sort of found out that the kid isn't mine. He threw her out…and disinherited her. My parents bought us a small house because they thought he was kicking her out so we could live together."

Itachi felt his knees weaken, his insides churn.

"He threw her out?"

Sahiro nodded.

"Damn!" Itachi swore. "Dammit, Sahiro, I'm sorry. I should be the one doing this for her, not you!"

Sahiro looked down at the floor.

"I can't say I approve of what you did…I mean, you sort of told her you loved her, got her pregnant, abandoned her, told her that—"

"I am aware of what I did." Itachi said through gritted teeth.

"S-Sorry."

"So…how is she?"

Sahiro rubbed his left arm with his right hand as his eyes darted towards the floor.

"Well…bad, I guess. I'm not an expert on pregnancy, but I can tell that she's not exactly enjoying the ride."

Itachi scowled.

"Shit…god _fucking _dammit this is all my fault!"

Once again, Sahiro rubbed his arm uncomfortably.

"Um…I should probably go…they're expecting me home soon…"

Itachi stared quizzically at him.

"They?"

"My wife is living with us, too."

"Oh…alright."

"Well…goodbye, Itachi-san."

"Goodbye, Sahiro. Thank you for your information."

Sahiro turned and walked to the front counter, quietly paying for the hot chocolate and marshmallows before departing the store, casting but one glance over his shoulder at Itachi – who was still standing in the back of the store, eyes glaring at the floor, knuckles turning white from gripping the bag of flour so tightly.

After paying for the flour, Itachi sped home. His mother thanked him again for running the errand for her, but his eyes were distant as he muttered a soft,

"No problem." Immediately after responding, he walked away from her and straight into his room, sitting down on his bed with his head in his hands and elbows on his knees, staring at the scattered patches of his bedroom floor, where piles of books did not sit. Itachi let loose a heavy sigh and ran a finger through his hair.

_Not only did I abandon her, I also ruined her life…_ Itachi remembered Sahiro's words…

"_I can't say I approve of what you did…I mean, you sort of told her you loved her, got her pregnant, abandoned her, told her that—"_

He moaned, and thought. He remained ignorant to all of the things he and Meri had been through…now, there was nothing but time to sit and think it through…

_The first time we almost kissed, I told her she was a horrible person…the second time was alright, but after the third time, she told me that we couldn't be together and I acted as if I didn't care, and when she asked me if I loved her, I didn't reply. That had to be hurtful…then…there was that night…Damn! I was so reckless…and the very next morning, I abandoned her for at least two months! She didn't know where or why I was going…I get back, and she tells me that she found out she was pregnant. I don't talk to her for two weeks, and finally when I do, I tell her that I can't raise a baby with her – I'm basically abandoning her. And now because of that, she not only lost me, but she lost her family, her home, all of her money. Now she has nothing…and it's all because of me._

Itachi swore under his breath and fell back on his bed, eyes glazed over as they stared up at the ceiling.

"I can't believe I did all of those things…" he whispered. "They didn't seem that bad before…but now…"

He cringed.

_Even after all of that, she still loved me. Every single time I shot her down, or pushed her away…she came back…how does it feel when you love someone, and they're horrible to you?_ _That's it…I've got to set this right._

x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x

_The next day…_

_Ding, dong._

There were footsteps from beyond the wooden door, and after a few seconds, the handle turned and it was swung open.

"Itachi-san?"

"Hello, Sahiro…"

"Erh…would you like to come in?" Sahiro stepped aside and pushed the door open further.

"Yes. Actually, I was hoping I could have a word with Meri…?" Itachi replied as he stepped inside the doorway. 

"Oh. Sure, I'll go get her."

Sahiro turned and walked further into the house, leaving Itachi alone by the front door.

It was a generally small house, without an opening foyer or hallway, the front door led directly into the living room – which had nothing but a three person couch, a small table, and a miniscule television set. A few moments passed, before Meri emerged from a hallway next to the kitchen. She stared at Itachi, eyes wide.

"Hi." she breathed.

"Hey." replied Itachi, almost as quietly as Meri.

"Um…have a seat. Please?" Meri gestured to the couch. Itachi nodded and walked over, taking the seat closest to the door. Meri walked over and sat down next to him.

The room filled with a silence so thick and so dense, Itachi could scream. His ears were ringing, his brain pounded against his skull, his heartbeat was at least twice as fast….but no, he had to do this.

"Meri." he exhaled. "Listen. What I said before, about not raising the baby with you…I was just stressed out. You asked me so quickly, you didn't give me any time to think…I didn't know what to say."

Meri stared down at the ground, facial expression hidden by the strands of hair hanging down in front of her face.

"But now that I've had some time to think…" Itachi took a deep breath. _It's now or never._ "I'm going to raise it with you."

Meri's head whipped up, she stared at Itachi with wide, shining eyes.

"Itachi?"

He closed his eyes and nodded.

"R-really?" Meri stammered. "I mean, you don't have to, you—"

"I've made up my mind." Itachi stated.

Meri let loose a small squeal before leaning forwards and throwing her arms around Itachi.

"I'm so happy!" she exclaimed, finally releasing Itachi from the bone crushing hug she had been holding him in.

Itachi couldn't help but grin back at Meri, who now stared at him with an ear-wide smile, tears sparkling in her eyes.

"And Meri, I can't even begin to express how sorry I am about you being disinherited and thrown out…"

Meri, who was beside herself with happiness, couldn't care less.

"Oh, never mind that!" she said, still smiling somewhat. "I'm just happy that I get to be with you."

Itachi smiled again and leaned back into the couch.

"So…how long is it, now?"

"Five months." Meri replied promptly, nodding.

"Jesus Christ, really?!" Itachi yelped. "It's been that long?"

Meri raised an eyebrow.

"Um, yeah, why?"

"Well, two reasons." Itachi said. He held up his index finger. "One, I've been doing so much studying, I lost track of the time. I didn't suspect that two whole months would pass."

Now, the corners of Itachi's mouth twitched upward, and he held up middle finger along with his index.

"Number two, judging by your look, I'd say that at least six months would have passed, not only two. Seriously, Meri."

Meri laughed, and punched Itachi in the arm.

"Stop it!" she giggled.

"Seriously, though, Meri. I hate saying this, but you're enormous."

Meri smirked slightly and looked down at herself.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"Is that normal?" Itachi asked. "I mean, my mother wasn't this big when she had Sasuke."

Meri shrugged.

"Probably. Each pregnancy is different."

Itachi nodded.

"Alright."

At that moment, another person entered the room, a woman. She was a little taller than Meri, with thick blue hair that hung to her shoulders, a delicate white flower was placed behind her ear. Itachi couldn't deny that she was breathtakingly beautiful, with pale skin and a slim, feminine figure.

"Oh, hey." Meri said, smiling at the woman. "This is Itachi Uchiha, Itachi, this is Sahiro's wife, Konan."

Itachi nodded. Konan eyed him for a moment before nodding back. And with that, she promptly turned on her heel and left the room. Itachi glanced suspiciously at her, before turning to Meri, who looked uncomfortable.

"She's not exactly a big fan of yours. After what you did and all." Meri explained, shrugging.

"Ah." Itachi nodded. "I see…well, that's not too comforting to know."

Meri shrugged.

"Sorry."

Itachi shook his head in response.

"No, you didn't do anything…say, Meri?"

"Yup?"

"Want to go out for lunch?"

Meri hesitated, slowly biting her lip. Her eyes traveled towards the floor.

"Um…I don't know, Itachi." she said quietly. "I don't want to be seen with you, it could get both of us in more trouble…"

"Then we could go back to my place." Itachi offered.

Meri looked up at him, still clearly uncomfortable. "What about your parents?"

"They're away for the day." Itachi answered. "Sasuke got off school early today, so my mother took him and his friends out. My father is off on a mission."

Meri hesitated again.

"I…guess so." murmured Meri. She slowly lifted her head and the corners of her mouth turned upward in a half-grin.

"Alright."

Itachi stood up from the couch and bent down, grabbing Meri's elbow to help her stand up as well.

"Sahiro-san!" Meri called to the house. "Itachi and I are leaving for a while, alright?"

A few silent seconds followed, before a voice called back.

"Alright! Be home soon!"

Meri turned to Itachi and smiled, giving him a thumbs-up. Itachi grinned back, and the two turned towards the front door, soon on the way to Itachi's home.

x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x

As soon as the two had entered his room, Itachi turned around and locked the door. Even though no one was home, he still worried that his parents would arrive early.

"Wow." said Meri from behind him. Itachi turned around to see her staring, wide eyed and open mouthed at the piles of books that littered 90 of his bedroom floor.

"I told you I've been busy." he replied quietly with a nod in her direction. Meri reached over to the nearest pile of books and grabbed a thin, red book off the top.

"Madara Uchiha." she read aloud. "His Stained Past." Meri's eyes traveled the book's cover before tossing it back onto the pile.

"What exactly is it you're studying?" she asked, making her way over to Itachi's bed and sitting down.

"All sorts of things." answered Itachi, noticing that Meri was now eyeing a book that was simply entitled _The Uchiha Clan: A Brief History._

Meri shrugged.

"Some of this looks pretty boring."

"Actually…" Itachi walked over to his bed and sat down next to Meri. "It's quite intriguing. I'm mainly studying the powers of the Uchiha clan and such."

"Mhmm." Meri said, trying to sound interested. Itachi smiled, he knew she couldn't really care less.

"So." Itachi leaned back against the wall, hands folding comfortably in his lap. "Konan. She seems nice."

"She's really sweet." Meri said, staring straight ahead with glassy eyes. "Short temper, though. Sahiro adores her. She really loves him, too. I feel horrible, invading their privacy."

Itachi's fingers twitched involuntarily.

"Sorry." he mumbled.

"Oh, no, Itachi!" Meri gasped suddenly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel—"

"But it's my fault, I got you thrown out!" Itachi snapped, suddenly angry. "Everything I've done to you, every single bad thing that's happened to you in the past year is because of me!"

Meri opened her mouth, but Itachi continued on.

"I screamed at you after we almost kissed just because _I _was confused. Then I implied that I didn't love you, and now this!"

Meri subconsciously folded her hands on the huge bump of her stomach.

"I was horribly reckless, this happens, and I tell you that I'm not going to help you raise it!"

"But you apologized!" Meri now interrupted Itachi. "You apologized and now we're both happy! Everything's fine!"

"No, Meri."

The anger had disappeared from Itachi's tone, it was now flat, emotionless.

"Apologizing for something doesn't completely erase whatever happened, no matter the intention, or sincerity of the apology."

He looked up at her, looked deep into her eyes.

"Tell me this, Meri."

Meri was silent. She stared back at him in silence.

"Why?" he whispered.

"…why what?"

"Why? I've been such a horrible person to you, I can't even begin to count how many incidents in your past are my fault. So why do you still want to be around me? Why on earth would anybody want to be around someone who has done so many horrible things to them?"

Meri was sniffling now, her eyes glistening with tears yet to fall.

"Because." she answered. "I love you. I love you, and nothing in the world will change that. I know who you are, Itachi, I know you're not a bad person so stop blaming so many things on yourself! I forgive you because I know that you love me, too!"

One single teardrop escaped from the pools of her eyes and slid down the side of her face, quivering as it clung to her chin before giving up and plunging down, splashing on Meri's hand.

"Say something!" Meri demanded, voice now quavering as she stared at Itachi. He still gazed straight ahead, foggy eyes slightly narrowed.

"Itachi!"

Itachi whirled around and grabbed the sides of Meri's face, looking deep and intensely into her eyes before pressing his lips hard against hers. He broke the kiss a few seconds afterwards, grabbing her wrists and pushing her down onto her back. Itachi leaned forwards and kissed her again, more deep, more passionate than ever before. He bit her tongue, tasted her blood…he kissed along her jaw line, and down her neck. While doing so, his other arm slid up Meri's side, taking her shirt along with is as it moved. Meri let loose one soft moan, and in doing so, her eyes snapped open, as if her own voice had rigged her consciousness. She stared up at Itachi, eyes sparkling, but not in pleasure - in fear. Itachi's heart leapt. Had he done something wrong?

"It…" Meri whispered to him. "It won't hurt the baby…will it?"

"No." whispered Itachi in response.

Meri's eyes closed again, and she sighed in relief. She reached up and grabbed the sides of Itachi's neck, pulling him closer.

x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x

Night was beginning to fall once more over Konoha, a black blanket was slowly falling over the city, enveloping the villagers in the darkness of the night. Itachi had dropped Meri off back at Sahiro's home just over an hour ago, and was now sitting in his bedroom, once more reading another of the numerous books he possessed. Completely absorbed in his book, he did not hear the knock at his front door. That is of course, until a few minutes later when the knock rang again, harder and louder.

Itachi looked up, hesitating for a moment before slowly closing his book and placing it down. He stood up from his bed and opened his bedroom door, now walking down the narrow hallway just outside his bedroom. Finally, he stood at the front door, reached out, twisted the handle, and slowly opened it.

He saw her for less than a second. A woman, with blue hair blinked at him, then was gone. Itachi's instinct took over, and he fell into a fighting stance. Yet, he could detect no strange charkas or presences around. The woman must really have been gone.

It was probably just a prank, Itachi told himself, and he was about to close the door when he spotted it. A small, black book sat on his porch, exactly where the blue-haired woman had just been standing. Itachi bent over and read the gold lettering,

_AKATSUKI._

On top of the book sat one white flower, not unlike the one Sahiro's wife, Konan wore in her hair.

Everything fell into place.

The strange dreams, those were members of the Akatsuki. Konan was one of them, she was the blue haired woman, Hidan, Kakuzu were there, it had to be the Akatsuki…and before Hidan fought, he had mentioned 'leader-sama,' no doubt the mastermind behind the organization, and this supposed leader had mentioned Itachi Uchiha. It all made sense.

They wanted him to join the Akatsuki.

They wanted Itachi.


	18. Eighteenth

Author's Note:

Author's Note:

Oooohmmmmyygooosh, guys. You have no idea how terribly sorry I am for not updating in so long. I've actually written the entire end of the story, and was just working a bit on the last chapter…I was going to upload them all at once, but now all of the new manga chapters are coming out with "the truth about Itachi" things in them, which COMPLETELY screwed me up, because of course, my story was based on what we all assumed Itachi's story was. So, it took me a little while to work things out, but I think I've got it all sorted. And yes, thanks to that little dilemma, there will be no mass upload of the rest of the story all in one night…once again guys, please forgive me, I am SO SO SO SO SO sorry.

Also, I know this chapter is REALLY short, but I had to take out a lot of stuff…

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Goodbye."

Meri leaned forward as Itachi took her chin in his hand and kissed her on the cheek, just before turning around and walking briskly away, not turning back to wave or smile once. Meri stood at the door, watching silently. Once Itachi was completely out of sight, her face crumpled, she slammed the door closed and locked it tightly behind her, hot tears spilling out of her eyes.

_He didn't remember._ she thought as she sobbed, allowing her body to slump against the door and slide down into a sitting position on the floor. More tears spilled from her eyes, she put her head in her hands and stared at the floor, breathing in short, shuddering breaths.

Just then, Sahiro walked into the room. At first he did not notice Meri, slumped over by the door, but when she gave a small sniffle, his head jerked up.

"Meri?" he asked, finally spotting her. He rushed over to her side and crouched down next to her, a hand on her shoulder. "Meri, is something wrong? Did Itachi do something?"

Meri sniffed again, and shook her head.

"No. And that's just it." she sighed, gulping and slightly regaining her composure. "He didn't say happy birthday. Not once. He probably forgot. That stupid inconsiderate jerk."

Sahiro's worried expression changed to that of pity. He rubbed Meri's shoulder.

"Come on, Meri, you don't mean that." he said softly. She shook her head in response.

"No, I don't…but he's so…distant these past two months! Ever since he said he'd stick with me, he only comes and visits every few days…do you know how many times he said 'I love you' today?"

"How many?"

"Zero! I love him more than I could love anything else, but he makes me so angry sometimes!" she clenched her fists and teeth, glaring hard at the floor. Now the tears had stopped falling, sadness replaced with anger.

"Well, hon, relationships tend to be like that sometimes." A female voice sounded from the other end of the room. Sahiro and Meri looked up and spotted Konan standing in the doorway that led to the kitchen. She walked over to Meri and crouched down on the other side of her, opposite Sahiro. She raised her hand and with her long, delicate fingers, tucked a strand of hair behind Meri's ear.

"Relationships have rough patches. You just have to plow through them." she said softly, leaning forward and kissing Meri on the forehead. "It'll work out for you, hon, you're a sweet girl."

The corner's of Meri's mouth twitched upward in sort of a half-smile.

"And, if it helps…" Konan added, with a wink and a small smile. "_We _didn't forget your birthday. As a matter of fact…" she reached behind her and pulled a small, snow white object out of apparently nowhere.

Meri gasped in surprise as she saw it. It was an origami peacock, with such amazing detail, it appeared completely identical to the real thing, other than the size and color, obviously.

"It's beautiful!" she gasped, taking it carefully as Konan handed it to her.

"Oh, it's just something I threw together this morning." Konan said, though she did not attempt to hide her proud smile. "Happy birthday."

Meri smiled hugely.

"Thank you so much!" she said happily, leaning forward best she could and lightly hugging Konan.

"That's not all, though." Sahiro added. "Meri, Konan and I made you something for your birthday, I think now would be a great time to show you. To cheer you up."

Meri gave Sahiro a puzzled look as he and Konan stood up and difficultly helped Meri to her feet. She gasped ever so quietly as Sahiro grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards Konan, just before her vision became black, Sahiro's hands covering her eyes.

"What--?"

"Shh. Trust me." Sahiro's voice came from behind her. She gulped and nodded, jumping as Konan's slightly chilled fingers threaded through hers and pulled her forward. She allowed herself to be lead through the house, completely blind and clueless.

Eventually, after a few twists and turns, Sahiro, Konan, and Meri pulled to a stop.

"Are we…?" Meri asked slowly.

"Yep." Sahiro said from behind her. Konan's fingers slipped away, and in front of her, Meri could hear a doorknob turning.

"Are you ready?" Konan asked, just as Sahiro gave Meri a slight push forward.

"Probably not." admitted Meri, tensing slightly. What on earth could they possibly…?

Light suddenly flooded her vision, cool air rushed towards her face now that Sahiro had moved his hands away. She blinked once or twice in surprise. As her vision finally focused, she gasped.

"Oh my gosh…"

Sahiro and Konan had lead Meri to what used to be Konan's art room, where she would lock herself up for hours at a time and do nothing but craft whatever origami piece came into her mind. But now, the pale blue walls had been painted over with a light, sea foam green. Playful patterns of ducks and rabbits lined the walls, a small bookshelf with dozens of nursery rhyme books sat in the corner. A padded rocking chair sat in between two, yes, _two_ small wooden cribs.

"I…oh my gosh!" Meri squealed and rushed into the room, looking around with wide eyes, drinking it all in. She spotted the two cribs and turned back to Konan and Sahiro, confused but happy.

"How did you know they were twins?" she asked, completely bewildered but smiling from ear to ear. "I never told anyone that I was having twins!"

Konan reached up and tapped a finger to her head.

"Woman's instinct…and I accidentally found your ultrasounds."

Meri scowled playfully at her.

"Cheater."

Konan smirked, and stuck her tongue out at Meri, who laughed in response and then walked over to the rocking chair, plopping herself down into it.

"Thank you two so much…you really didn't have to do all of this."

They both beamed back at her, obviously proud of themselves.

"Oh no, please, Meri." said Konan, inclining her head as she spoke. "We wanted to, and now we can see you happy again."

"Well, no shit." Meri laughed. "This just about made my day!"

None of the three could stop smiling at all, every one of them overjoyed about the room. After a few minutes discussion about the nursery, Sahiro cleared his throat.

"May I, um, raise a practical question at this point?" he asked.

"No." Konan said sharply. "Because your version of a practical question is everyone else's day-ruining question." Meri giggled as Konan finished.

"Really!" Sahiro protested. "It's a serious and may be potentially problematic."

"Oh, well then." Konan said, sitting up straight and putting on a very dignified face. With a slightly British accent, she continued. "Let's hear your 'potentially problematic' question."

Meri giggled some more, but Sahiro's expression did not change. He turned to Meri and asked, very bluntly,

"When are you going to tell Itachi?"

Meri's face fell. For a moment, she pretended to not understand.

"…about what?"

"You know what, Meri. You need to tell him that you're having twins."

Konan sighed, her head slumped forward.

"I knew it." she mumbled.

"I…I will." Meri said slowly and unsurely, stumbling on her words. "Soon."

Sahiro shook his head rapidly as he spoke.

"That's what you said three months ago, Meri! It's now or never, you're seven months pregnant, he's got to know soon."

"Alright, alright!" Meri sighed in annoyance, holding up a hand to Sahiro, signaling him to stop talking. "I'll tell him the next time I see him, promise."

Sahiro, now apparently satisfied, crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Alright then. That's solved."

Meri nodded, and made a small attempt to hide her bitter, grim expression.

x—x—x—x—x—x—x—x

Later that night, around ten o'clock or so, Meri was alone. Sahiro and Konan had gone out to have dinner (it was their anniversary), and told Meri not to wait up for them. She was enjoying the peace greatly, now sitting in her new nursery and going through all the books. At the moment, she was trying to decide on names for her twins.

She wanted to name them something unusual, something unique and unheard of. Her own name, Meri, was quite an odd one, and she was proud of it, being different, that was, and wanted to pass that on to her children. Of course, none of the baby names books that Sahiro and Konan had stored in the bookcase provided any strange and unusual names. So, Meri sat in the rocking chair, eyes glued to the ceiling, while she tried to come up with the perfect titles to call her children.

Meri could have sat there thinking for an eternity, but as the minutes dragged by, her eyelids grew heavier; her limbs ached slightly, her breathing rate slowed. Eventually, she decided that sleep would be healthiest for her, and disregarding the moans of the rocking chair, pushed herself out of it. She walked out of the room and down the hallway, towards the other side of the house. Just as she was passing the front door, three loud, heavy knocks pounded against the wood.

Meri froze in her spot, worried. Konan and Sahiro couldn't be home by then…who would be calling at this hour? Should she answer? What would…?

But then she realized how ridiculous she was being. It could be her mother, or Itachi, and it might even be Sahiro and Konan. Meri was just being paranoid.

She reached forward and twisted the door handle, pulling the door open.

Everything happened quickly. Meri felt herself being thrown back, and then her back slamming against the other end of the room. It wasn't a large room, so the impact wasn't deadly, but enough to hurt horribly. She yelped and gasped for air when she slid to the floor, trying to force oxygen back into her lungs, making no attempt to ignore the pain shooting through her spine. Then, in another split second, a hand was around her lower throat, a kunai to her chest. Meri's eyes were clenched shut, all her muscles tensed like a drawn bowstring. After a moment of heavy breathing, she dared open her eyes. Her eyelids slid apart, ever so slowly. She spotted her captor, and at the same time, saw her world crumbling down around her, everything she knew broke to pieces.

"Itachi?"

Itachi indeed stared back at her, wide, red eyes glaring at her face, his pale, bloodstained cheeks unmoving.

"Wh-what are you…?" she whimpered, vision blurring as tears filled her eyes. She could not speak, her throat was closing up. "What are you doing…?"

For a while, he said nothing, didn't move, didn't breathe.

"I killed them." he whispered. "All of them. Almost." his eyes traveled down to Meri's abdomen, as did his kunai, pressing hard into her stomach, not enough to puncture, but enough to hurt.

"What…?" a tear rolled down Meri's cheek. She stared up at Itachi in confusion. He did not answer her question, he continued to speak as if he could not hear her at all.

"You carry an Uchiha. You must be disposed of."

"I…disposed?!" Meri said, her breath quickening, her eyes growing wider. "Killed them? You mean…you killed…"

Itachi nodded.

"Every last Uchiha."

Meri's eyes grew even wider, her hands clutched at her stomach.

"You…you can't! Itachi, please, please don't! You can't hurt me!" she cried out. As she began to yell, the hand around her throat clamped around her mouth, muffling her screams. The tip of the kunai now touched the skin on her throat.

"Oh, but I can." He said. Itachi grabbed a fistful of Meri's hair and dragged her to her feet, pulling her head back as he did so. She whimpered loudly, but did not cry out. Itachi brought the kunai sideways across her throat, letting the cold metal rest on her skin before he would slit her throat.

"Itachi…" she whispered, breathing in short, ragged gasps. "…please…please…"

Itachi paused, fist tightening around the kunai.

"…please…" she repeated, one last time.

Itachi snapped. He yelled out in rage and released Meri's hair. She slumped back against the wall, thinking she was safe for just a millisecond. Then, she glanced up and saw Itachi's arm raised with the kunai tight in his grip. Horrible shadows fell across his bloodstained, anger convulsed face. This Itachi was one that Meri did not know. He swung his arm down towards Meri – this was it – the end.

She screamed as she felt the kunai tear through her shirt, her skin, a huge straight gash across her upper arm. She fell to the ground and curled up in a ball, clutching at her arm, fingers fumbling in the blood. She lifted her head once more, and saw Itachi standing in the doorway, staring back at her, face void of emotion.

"Oh," he began, as if remembering something for the first time. "And happy eighteenth."

He was gone.

Everything went black.


	19. Over

Meri subconsciously rubbed at the bandage on her right arm as she walked side by side with the unfamiliar, gray haired jounin

Author's Note:

Yay! New chapter already! I'm just trying to finish this up and make up for how long I made you all wait…sorry! Thanks for the comments again, Meri, and sadly, I laughed while writing it! Aren't we horrible? And no, Angel Girl Julia, I didn't lose interest in this fic…I'm sorry if that last chapter didn't suit you, but it had to happen eventually…and Miu, I actually do like Three Days Grace, but I just can't concentrate after listening to them. They melt my brain…though, I'm sure you'd get along fine with SNB, she keeps ranting about how great they are.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, guys, yay new chapter! The story is coming to a close…and…yeppers. Hope you enjoy.

X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X

Meri subconsciously rubbed at the bandage on her right arm as she walked side by side with the unfamiliar, gray haired jounin. Her eyes were glued to the ground as she walked, completely blank, along with her expressionless face. Her whole body was numb with disbelief and shock.

Itachi. Gone.

Mikoto. Fugaku. Sasuke. Dead.

It seemed so unreal, how so much could change in a little amount of time, just when things finally seemed to be heading the right way.

She did not speak to the jounin. He did not speak to her. The two of them walked side by side, silently. Meri had no idea where she was going, or why she was going there. In fact, Meri didn't know where she lived, what her name was, or how old she was. All she knew was that she was alone.

Not even Sahiro was here to comfort her now. Konan had also mysteriously gone missing last night, though didn't publicly announce it as Itachi had. Now Sahiro was out looking for Konan.

Meri had lost everything:

Hitomi, her shy and lovely mother; Kasumaru, even though he was a horrible person, he was her father after all; Sahiro, the kindest person she had ever met, who helped her through so much; Konan, as kind as, if not kinder than Sahiro, the most important womanly figure in her life; Sasuke, the adorable little six year old had been like a little brother to her, even though she hadn't seen him in five months; Mikoto, a kind, compassionate mother-like figure to her; Itachi, the father of her children, her first relationship, the one man she has ever or will ever truly love.

Meri was sure she'd see her mother again. But at the time, Hitomi had been ignoring her, under threats from Kasumaru, no doubt. Meri was also sure that she would be reunited with Konan and Sahiro once everything was sorted out, but at the moment, she needed them more than ever.

And Itachi.

Meri wasn't depressed. Oh, no. She was still too shocked to be depressed, her brain still numb from the incident the previous night. She gave absolutely no thought to anything at the moment. Her conscience was nowhere to be found.

"Miss Umeko?"

Her head slowly rose, her glassy eyes wearily examining the gray-haired, masked jounin.

"We've arrived." he said, nodding towards the doors in front of them. Normally Meri would have been shocked that she hadn't noticed the transition of scenery. But no reaction came. She just nodded in thanks as the jounin held open the door for her. As the room came into view– the office of the Hokage, something flashed before her eyes –

_It was a very large room, slightly oval shaped, with walls painted a color slightly lighter than sand. Like the hallways outside, this room was dimly lit, and gave off a cozy glow that some may have called eerie. It seemed slightly empty to Meri, the walls were bare and the Hokage obviously did not enjoy numerous paintings and works of art hanging on the walls as her father did. Two small sage green chairs stood facing the desk, and the Hokage smiled up at them from a large red velvet chair from behind it._

"_Have a seat!" he called, gesturing to the small chairs. Meri sat down. Itachi did not._

Meri winced ever so slightly as this memory crept up upon her, the first sign of emotion she had shown in quite some time. She stepped inside the room and glanced around. The room had not changed at all since she had visited it almost a year ago. Everything was still in place, including the Hokage in his chair. But, something in the corner of Meri's eye stood out against everything else. She turned her head slightly to see what it was, and gasped immediately, breaking down on the spot.

In the corner, there was a small, blue cot. On top of it lay the figure of a small, pale, sleeping boy.

"Sasuke!" Meri gasped, completely losing her composure as she quickly ran over and sat down next to the cot, eyes searching Sasuke's face.

"Yes, fortunately, Sasuke was found unconscious, but alive." the Hokage in formed Meri. The gray jounin's one visible eye looked down at Meri and Sasuke with a hint of pity.

"There was no physical damage, other than a miniscule cut on his shoulder." continued the Hokage, eyes now resting on Sasuke's face. "Though mental damage, I can't imagine what he's going through. Poor child."

Meri nodded slowly, still not taking her eyes off of the young Uchiha. His face was chalk white, still pale from the previous night's events. His closed eyes were swollen and red. Tears had washed clean some of the dirt on his face, but he still looked pitiful, sad, and alone.

Meri agreed with the Hokage. She couldn't imagine the pain Sasuke was going through either. Up until this moment, she had been feeling sorry for herself. But she had others. Sahiro and Konan would return, and she would have the twins. Sasuke had literally no one, and had no chance of anyone ever returning. Every single thing in Sasuke's life was now gone.

Meri sniffed slightly, forcing back tears and trying to keep her throat from closing. She reached up and tucked a stray piece of hair behind Sasuke's ear. The moment her finger made contact with him, he winced violently, recoiling even though completely asleep. She paused, and withdrew her hand.

She wished she could tell Sasuke about the twins. Meri wished she could tell him about Itachi, she wished she could wake him up and smile and tell him he was going to be a great uncle. But, Sasuke didn't even know that Meri was pregnant. And now did not really seem like an opportune moment to smile.

"_Are you Meri?"_

_Sasuke's voice made both of them jump, in their silence, neither had noticed him walk casually into the room and stand beneath them. Meri coughed and tore her gaze away from Itachi and stared down at Sasuke._

"_Why, yes I am." she replied kindly. "And would you be Sasuke, Itachi's charming younger brother that he has told me so much about?"_

"_Mhmm." he said, staring up at Meri with wide eyes, before opening his mouth and asking the question that he had clearly been sitting on for a long time. "Do you really not have any cooties? Because I think you're pretty enough to have a lot of them."_

_Meri smiled and giggled, bending down and kissing Sasuke on the cheek._

"_Thank you." she said kindly as she stood up straight. Sasuke reached up and numbly felt his cheek with his fingertips. Soon, the shock wore off and he glared up at Meri._

"_I'm almost a ninja now, okay? Don't treat me like a baby!" he shot, wiping the kiss off of his cheek with the back of his hand._

"_Oh. I see." said Meri gravely, nodding as her brow furrowed. "And I suppose fully grown non-baby ninja don't like lollipops anymore?"_

_She held up her hand, now holding a fairly large pink lollipop with crimson red swirls that she had produced from absolutely nowhere._

"_Um…I still…like…lollipops." Sasuke admitted, his face turning just as crimson as the cherry-flavored swirls. Meri beamed, smiling to herself as she saw Itachi throw her a 'where-the-heck-did-you-just-get-that-lollipop-from' look._

"_I thought so."_

Meri's eyes narrowed at this memory. It was an amusing one, no doubt, but she was angry at herself, at her mind, her brain, for remembering such happy things in such a dreadful time. Of all days to reminisce.

When Meri looked back up, her mind seemed to rejoin the conversation in the room, hearing the Hokage's voice slowly tune in. He was talking to the gray-haired, masked jounin about sending out a team of ANBU members to look for Konan, and that the jounin himself would be sent out to look for Itachi.

"Is that understood, Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded once, visible eye closed.

"Yes, my lord."

The Hokage nodded in thanks, and folded his hands in front of him on the desk.

"Now…" he sighed, turning towards Meri. "Meri."

Meri froze. He was going to talk about the twins. He knew they were Itachi's children, Meri just knew he did. Perhaps she was just being paranoid, but she had a strange hunch…

"I am terribly, terribly sorry about what has happened." continued the Hokage, closing his eyes and bowing his head. "I'm sure you must be going through a great deal of emotion—"

"Sir, with all due respect, I'd rather not." Meri cut him off, voice slightly constricted. She made to get up and leave, but seeing as she was sitting on the floor and seven months pregnant with twins, this proved to be a little difficult. Kakashi glanced at the Hokage, who nodded, then went over to Meri, helping her up.

"Thank you." Meri thanked Kakashi once she was on her feet, though she did not make eye contact with him. He nodded in response, keeping up his prestige as a generally silent man. The Hokage did not stop Meri as she walked for the door, though he did look at her with an extremely emotional and pained expression.

Meri reached the door, and extended her arm towards the handle. Suddenly, she froze, appearing tense and on edge. Kakashi and the Hokage stared at her, puzzled. Her outstretched arm slowly pulled back towards her body, her fingers curling into a tight fist. She said nothing, nor did the Hokage or Kakashi. After about a minute or so, she relaxed, sighing deeply.

"Are you alright?" called the Hokage. Without turning to look at him, Meri nodded. She reached for the handle once more, and pulled open the door. Meri wasn't even a step outside the door when she gasped, staggering as she walked. One hand held her abdomen, the other shot out and grasped the doorframe for support.

"Meri!" the Hokage called, now standing up. Kakashi was at her side in an instant, grasping her arm and steering her inside, sitting her down in one of the chairs in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Are you alright?" the Hokage repeated, looking at Meri's closed eyes with concern. After a few seconds, Meri nodded slowly.

"Yeah. I'm fine. This happens a lot, it's just false labor. Nothing to worry about." she said quietly.

Kakashi nodded, and stood up straighter.

"You should stay here." he told her, finally breaking his silent streak. "Until you see fit to leave."

"No, really, it's just false—" she stopped mid-sentence, gasping again and clenching her eyes shut. All of her muscles tensed, she began breathing in quick, shallow breaths. "Ow…ow…ow…"

The Hokage and Kakashi watched in silence, both worried, but both having no idea what on earth they could be doing to help. After it had passed, Meri's eyes flew open, her face shocked.

"Meri…?" the Hokage asked quietly.

"I…I think my water just broke." Meri announced, face chalk white, standing up and beginning to walk swiftly towards the door. "I'm going to the hospi—ah!"

She staggered again, almost collapsing onto the ground. Luckily, Kakashi smoothly stepped forward and caught her. She was tense in his arms, every single muscle clenched and shaking with strain. Her eyes, like before, were squeezed shut. Now, she cried out in pain, a sort of strained yelp.

"Get her to a hospital!" barked the Hokage. Kakashi nodded once, and, in one great movement, picked up Meri in his arms and ran out the door.

All common sense seemed to have left Meri's body as she felt herself being sped – rather bumpily – off. The last contraction had faded, but within thirty seconds, another was upon her, each one growing progressively worse than the others. She felt as if her insides were being pulled and stretched to their very limits and beyond, somebody was taking her body and twisting it, tying it, crumpling it up, and it hurt more than anything imaginable.

"Stop it…" she whimpered, grabbing a fistful of Kakashi's sleeve in pain.

"Hang on, Meri, we're almost there." Kakashi's voice sounded above her. She heard it, clear as a whistle, but nothing else in the world existed right now, nothing but Meri and this horrible, searing pain.

As that contraction faded, she looked up at Kakashi. His eyes were set straight ahead with determination, his hair blowing in the wind as he sped towards the hospital with Meri in his arms.

"This can't be happening…" Meri whimpered, preparing for the next wave of pain. "I'm only seven months…"

"I know." Kakashi answered, trying to calm her. "Just hold on until we get to the hospital, they'll sort things out. One more minute."

Meri nodded, just before crying out in pain once more.

X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X

Meri's eyes were closed when they entered the hospital, everything around her was rushing and noisy. She heard voices on every side of her, felt herself being carried into a room. Kakashi's arms left her, and her body, which was lowered into a soft, warm, bed. Once the wave of pain had passed over her, she opened her eyes.

She was lying in a small, bleach white bed with cold metal rails bordering the length of it. Above her stood two doctors, conversing quietly. Sitting next to her bed was a nice looking nurse, who was dabbing at her sweaty forehead with a cold cloth.

"She's already at nine centimeters." one of the doctors told the other. "Do you want to go ahead?"

The other doctor, an older looking one, nodded.

"Yes, I think that'd probably be best, even if it is premature, we can't do much to stop it."

Meri lifted her head slightly.

"No, we can't!" she interrupted. Both doctors turned to look at her. "It's too early!"

"Oh, don't worry, sweetheart." said the nurse from beside her, reaching forward and grabbing Meri's hand. "They're smart, those doctors, they know what they're doing."

"She's right." the younger looking doctor added, looking at Meri with kind eyes. "Everything is fine, you'll be okay in our hands."

Meri, though looking extremely worried, nodded, and laid back down.

"How far apart are the contractions?" the older doctor calmly asked as he pulled on a pair of rubber gloves. Meri could have punched him, there was something annoying in his ever so smooth, calm tone.

"About thirty seconds." she replied, and coincidentally just then, her insides coiled and twisted, tightening like a drawn bowstring. She cringed and inhaled sharply, waiting for the pain to subside. Once it had, she opened her eyes to find the two doctors bending over near the bed.

"Alright Meri, I want you to listen to me and do what I say. I know this is on such short notice, but please listen." the calm, older doctor commanded. "Next contraction, I need you to push as hard as you can, and count to ten. Alright?"

Meri nodded, breathing heavily. Her hair was now sticking to her face and obscuring her vision. Her sweaty hands clamped around the metal bars on the side of the bed. Agonizing, silent seconds passed, and once again, she inhaled sharply and—

"Alright, Meri…"

The pain grew.

"Push."

She did, and the moment she started to, the pain increased dramatically, multiplied by thousands. She cried out, and stopped immediately.

"Meri, don't stop! It'll be over sooner if you don't."

She gulped, and did as the doctor told her.

_One…two…three…_

There was a great rush, like no other..

_Four…five…six…_

Pain, beyond any she had ever experienced. Meri was finding it harder and harder to count.

_Seven…eight…nine…_

"I've got the head." announced the doctor. There was another great rush, the pain swelled, and then…

She wad done. Her muscles relaxed, she sighed and leaned backwards onto the bed, breathing heavily. Though, something…something was wrong, something was missing.

It was quiet. The lack of noise in the air rang in Meri's ears, drilling into her brain. Where was the noise? Wasn't it supposed to be crying?

She lifted he head up to see what was going on. In the corner on a small table, Meri saw the bottom half of a baby – the top half was blocked from view by the doctor standing in front of it, tending to it.

"It's a boy!" the nurse offered helpfully, but Meri could tell from her expression that _something_ wasn't right. She had no time to ask any questions, though, for in the next moment—

"Ah!" she yelped as another horrible contraction took its course.

"Alright, Meri, one more time…go ahead and push."

She clenched her teeth and did what the doctor had instructed. This time, it was harder. Meri was already tired from giving birth once, and without a single moment of rest, she had to repeat the process. Now, not only her abdomen ached, her entire body throbbed, both legs, both arms erupted in fiery pain. Her head felt light and airy, the room swam before her eyes.

_Five…six…seven…_

The same rushing feeling as before took place, and the, it was over.

This time, small, choked crying rang through the room, the most wonderful thing Meri would ever hear.

"It's a girl!" the nurse beamed at her.

Meri made a feeble attempt to lean up and see her daughter, but her entire body ached with horribly. The moment she tried to prop herself up on her elbow, a searing pain shot through her spine. She gasped and fell backwards onto the bed. The nurse's beaming face was the last thing she saw before everything went black.


	20. Rest

Autor's Note:

Autor's Note:

Meri – Yep…sorry for my insane predictability. And I _just_ realized how weird it is that your penname is Meri Umeko, and so is the character in this story…it's not weird, but it's sort of odd.

Shorter chapter now…only seven pages…blech.

X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X

Meri woke up, ever so slowly. She regained consciousness, but kept her eyes closed, trying to remember what had happened to cause her to fall into such a deep sleep.

It took her a moment or so, but eventually, her mind wandered back to Itachi, the twins being born. As these memories dawned on her, so did a foreign feeling…

It was over. Everything was over.

In a good sense, and a bad.

The twins had been born. Meri no longer had to endure the everyday unfomcort she had been for the past seven months.

And yet, Itachi was gone. Konan was as well, with Sahiro out looking for her.

Meri felt…strange. Just…strange, that's all. Everything in her entire life had changed during the past two days, completely twisted around. It would take a while to adjust to it, if she ever adjusted at all. She couldn't help feeling helpless, now with no idea of what to do with herself.

Now, Meri's eyes slid slowly open, and took in her surroundings.

She still was in a hospital room, but different from the one before. She lay on top of and under warm, cream-colored bed sheets, in a friendly, light-green painted room. The sunlight streaming through the open window gave it a much less cold, hospital feeling.

Yet, signs of a medical center still remained. Meri felt tubes of oxygen running up into her nose, and saw them feeding into a large, complicated looking device. Attached to her arm was an IV drip, the small plastic tube hanging down from a small bag of clear, orange-colored chemicals or whatnot.

Meri tried to sit up, but the moment she did, a horrible, aching pain spread through her upper back and arms. Immediately, she fell back into her previous position, where she felt strangely and pleasantly numb, especially now without the added weight of the twins that she had grown accustomed to.

Completely unable to move without putting herself in intense pain, Meri simply lay there, eyes traveling around the room, while every last ounce of her mind was willing her not to fall back asleep, as she much would have enjoyed doing. Minutes flew by like speeding bullets, time not meaning much to Meri at the time. Eventually, though, the door to the room opened. Meri's eyes flew towards it, and the younger doctor who had tended to the twins directly after they were born stepped through the door. He spotted her awake, and smiled.

"Good morning." he said, walking over to her bedside and pulling up a chair, taking a seat in it and crossing his legs.

"Good Morning" Meri replied hoarsely, throat sore. She was surprised at how much of her breath it took for her to choke out a single sentence, but continued anyway, asking the first and most obvious question.

"Where are they?"

At this, the doctor's smile faded.

"Meri…" he said, coughing into his fist. "Unfortunately, we've got some rather unhappy news…your eldest born, your son…he didn't make it."

Meri stared at him in disbelief.

_No. I must have heard wrong._

She continued to stare, willing him to take the sentence back, hoping for him to say that he misspoke, that it was someone else's child, anyone but hers…not her son…

"We did everything we could." he continued on, hanging and shaking his head. "Younger and premature pregnancies have a higher chance of birth defects. He was just too small…his heart and lungs weren't fully developed."

Meri's ears had gone numb, her eyes were welling up with tears.

"Can…can I see him?"

The doctor looked up at her, eyes searching her facial expression for a moment.

"I…I don't see why not. I'll, um, be right back, Meri."

He stood up from the chair and exited the room, leaving Meri by herself.

She stared at the chair that the doctor had just occupied moments ago, his ears ringing in her brain.

"_He didn't make it._"

She sniffed, feeling a horrible, sinking feeling in her stomach.

_Why? Of all children to take away…why my son? I need him, more than ever…_

About a minute or so had passed before the doctor re-entered the room, carrying a small, white bundle. He walked over to the bed and pushed a button on the side of it, so that the back rose slowly. Meri's spine tingled painfully as the bed moved, but soon, she had risen into a semi-sitting position. Her arms throbbed as soon as she moved them to receive the baby boy, but she did not wince, nor whimper in protest.

The doctor bent over, and placed the baby in her arms.

Meri stared down at him with intense interest.

He was small. Extremely small. He had Mikoto's nose, there was no doubt about it. Hitomi's face shape was present as well, his lips belonged to Meri and his skin tone was clearly that of an Uchiha. She reached up, and with trembling fingers, lifted one of his eyelids. The moment she saw his eyes, tears sprang to her own and slid down her face.

He had Itachi's eyes. Harsh and cruel, with a strangely gentle nature about them, pure onyx, just like his.

"Have you thought of a name?" asked the doctor, breaking the silence with his slightly cautious voice.

Meri nodded.

"Jairo." she said. "J – a – i – r – o. With a silent j."

The doctor nodded.

"That's unique. Like your name."

Meri smiled for the first time in a while.

"Exactly. And I'd like his godparents to be Sahiro Kyou and his wife, Konan."

The doctor nodded, obviously having no idea who those two people were, but deciding to sort it all out later. "What about a middle name?"

Meri thought for a moment, before deciding on the perfect name.

"Sahiro. Jairo Sahiro Umeko." It sounded fitting. She glanced down at the lifeless infant in her arms.

It pained Meri that she would never get to use the name. Jairo Sahiro Umeko, get down her this minute and clean up the dishes. Jairo, you can't go out until you finish your homework. Jairo, apologize to your sister.

Sister.

Meri's eyes suddenly sprang open, and she made a gesture for the doctor to take Jairo away. He did, leaning down and taking the baby in his arms, treating it as if it were actually breathing.

"Where is my daughter?" Meri asked. _Please tell me she lived._

"Your daughter is under intensive care."

Meri stared up at him with pleading eyes.

"Please."

He paused, before nodding slowly.

"Alright."

Once again, the doctor left Meri alone in the room, returning another few minutes later with an identical bundle in his arms. This one, though, he handled with much more caution as he placed her in Meri's arms.

The little girl that Meri now held was even smaller than Jairo, skin much darker, as well – a pinkish red shade. Her eyes were closed, her breathing heavy. Meri looked down at the facial features, trying to determine which body part she had gotten from whom.

She had Meri's nose, Meri's face, Meri's cheekbones…everything about her was a resemblance of Meri's face. Everything except her small, slender, soft looking mouth. That, Meri recognized, belonged to Itachi. Just as Meri was beginning to wonder about the little girl's eyes, they opened slowly, big, round, and wide, blinking in the sudden sunlight. They were bright violet, coming as a shock to Meri. It took her a moment or so to realize where the color combination had come from. It was a perfect blend of the sea blue of her eyes, and the blood red of Itachi's sharringan.

The doctor seemed to notice Meri's sudden surprise.

"The eyes are an odd color, I know. It's probably just a slight birth defect, but it's nothing to worry about."

Meri nodded in agreement, still keeping her secret theory about her eye color and the sharringan. She intended on taking it to the grave.

"A name?" asked the doctor.

Meri stared down at the little girl in her arms, who was now staring around the room with wide eyes, arms moving slowly.

"Elva." announced Meri after a moments pause. "Elva Umeko. No middle name. Sasuke Uchiha will be her godfather. Hitomi, my mother, will be her godmother."

The doctor probably found the mention of Sasuke Uchiha quite strange, but if he did, he made no mention or facial expression according to the matter. Instead, he took a seat once more and watched as Meri stared down at her child.

It was the most amazing thing in the world, giving birth. Meri stared down at the small human in her arms and wondered how on earth that it came into being. The idea that she herself created such a thing seemed simply uncanny, but now that she was holding Elva in her arms, it just seemed so right. Elva was part of Meri, and Meri was part of Elva. They fit. Perfectly.

Too perfectly.

For Meri, nothing seemed to go right. So, she was fearing the worse when she felt her arms start to send horrible pain signals to her brain, just from holding a small child that weighed probably less than five pounds.

"Sir?"

The doctor looked up at Meri.

"Yes?"

She stared him directly in the eye, with the most piercing gaze she could muster.

"Am I dying? I know I am, you're not supposed to take premature newborns out of intensive care unless it's dire. Yet, you barely hesitated when I asked to see Elva. I'm dying, aren't I?"

He seemed completely taken aback by the question, eyes first widening, and then closing completely. He sighed deeply and ran a hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair while thinking of an answer.

"You're very young, Meri. Young pregnancies are always difficult and painful. But you're also very small for your age, and you did have twins. There were many complications that your body just wasn't ready for, and the unimaginable strain it took on you—"

"Just tell me." Meri said, having to use the very last bit of breath in her lungs to sound strong and courageous. "I'm not afraid."

He frowned.

"Meri…your body is shutting down. We can slow the process, and hopefully stop it, but it will require intense care."

"What?" Meri asked, tilting her head to the side best she could, towards the respirator. "And have a machine breathe for me during the process? With all due respect, doctor…" she reached up with one arm, the other still cradling Elva, and pulled the tubes carefully out of her nose. "I really don't want to put myself in _more_ pain."

The doctor cringed.

"Meri, I'd rather you didn't—" he warned her, staring at the two oxygen tubes, now on the floor. Meri did not reply, she looked down at Elva.

"Elva…" she whispered, making direct eye contact with the infant. For a moment, Elva looked up at Meri, recognizing the sound of her voice, looking amused by it. "Be a strong and independent woman, like Konan. Grow up healthy. And always remember, mommy is always with you, and she loves you."

Meri's voice was thick with emotion, her vision blurred with tears. It also didn't help that the moment she took the respirator out, her breath became low and shallow, now it was harder to breathe than ever. "I love you, Elva." Meri choked.

She leaned forward, and for the first and last time, kissed her daughter goodnight, completely alone. Eighteen years old.

Then, Meri leaned back on the bed, wiggling to get into a comfortable position, and closed her eyes. The doctor sat there, watching helplessly, wanting to stop her, while his heart told him to let her go.

After a while, Meri's chest was rising and falling ever so slowly…

And then, it stopped.

Elva looked up at Meri, her eyes wide.

Why was she not moving anymore? What was wrong?

Elva's face crumpled, and she soon began wailing heavily, tears falling down her face as she shrieked.

Sadly, the doctor stood up and took Elva from Meri's lifeless arms, and carried her away.

Elva continued to wail and shriek as the doctor walked, looking back over her shoulder at Meri's still form.

Crying for her mother.


	21. Epilogue

Four Years Later

Author's Note:

There's going to be another chapter after this, not a story chapter, but one where I explain a few things and post the link to the NEXT STORY AFTER THIS ONE THAT YOU ABSITIVELY POSOLUTELY HAVE TO READ BECAUSE IT'S REALLY GOOD AND FUNNY. M'k? M'k!

And to all of your comments – I'll try to respond to EVERYBODY, I promise. Seriously…every comment, I WILL respond to. And all of your questions, which I usually answer in the author's note, will be answered next chapter.

_Four Years Later_

Itachi slid off his cloak, letting it fall in a heap on the ground near his ankles. He kicked it aside, and sat down on the small green blanket he had laid out for the night.

He glanced around the cave that he and few other Akatsuki members occupied for the night. The hideout was too far away after being relocated, meaning it would take more than day or so to travel back to the hideout after recruiting a new member.

Itachi didn't rather like the new member. Though he did recognize him from the dreams he had been having before, Deidara seemed like an all around annoying, whiney person. Then again, Itachi didn't like Kisame when he was partnered with him…he still really didn't, but that was beside the point. He watched Sasori and Deidara on the other end of the cave, as Deidara rolled out his sleeping bag, and Hiruko split in half, Sasori emerging from the center.

"That wasn't the real you?!" Deidara asked, bewildered, his eyes darting back and fourth between the real Sasori and the outer shell of Hiruko. Sasori stared at him, bored, not replying as he sat down on his own camp.

"You made that?" continued Deidara, gesturing to Hiruko with a jerk of his head. "Out of wood?"

"Yep." Sasori sighed, lying down and facing the wall.

"So…you're an artist, h'm?" Deidara pressed on, his questions never ending.

"Mhmm."

"…you don't look like an artist. H'm." grunted Deidara, with a brief nod of his head.

Now clearly annoyed, Sasori rolled over to face Deidara, an eyebrow raised in what almost looked like amusement.

"Are you a guy?" asked Sasori.

"Of course, h'm!"

"Well, you don't _look_ like a guy. So there."

Deidara scowled at Sasori, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I hate you, Sasori no Danna."

"Don't call me that, brat." mumbled Sasori.

To Itachi's right, Kisame laughed quietly.

"This kid'll be interesting." Kisame commented. "Not as funny as Hidan was, but he'll come close. You were too boring to provoke, Itachi."

Itachi said nothing in response, as was expected of him.

Kisame scoffed, and rolled over onto his side.

"You're no fun."

A few hours later, Deidara and Kisame were sound asleep. Itachi leaned warily against one of the walls of the cave, staring out through the opening, towards the star-speckled inky black night sky. Sasori was up, of course, being made of wood took no toll on his body, should he stay awake for even years.

The two conscious members said not a word to each other, seeing as neither were the very talkative type. Sasori was entertaining himself by attaching invisible strings of chakra to a wooden spider he had just whittled out of a small tree branch. Itachi stared at him out of the corner of his eye – he saw Sasori begin to move the spider towards a sleeping Deidara, but stop, as if having second thoughts. Itachi found himself rather amused. Sasori was at least fifteen or twenty years older than him, but was still a child at heart…well, literally, and psychologically speaking.

For a while, the two were silent, Sasori still amusing himself, Itachi staring out at the world through the small opening in the rock. It was strangely peaceful in the cave when all of a sudden, Itachi felt a strange, familiar presence. Sasori obviously felt it as well, for he looked up at Itachi.

"Someone's coming." he said casually. Itachi nodded, while Sasori continued. "It's _her._"

Itachi inclined his head once more, and indeed, a few seconds later, a familiar blue-haired person suddenly stood in the cave. She glanced at Itachi, and turned to Sasori.

"Did you retrieve him?" she asked. Sasori jerked his head towards the sleeping blonde.

"Yep. And he's annoying as hell."

Konan nodded and pursed her lips, turning her head to look at Deidara.

"Yes, well, his skills are exceptional." she said, with an obvious tone of I-really-don't-care. "You'll have to deal with him."

Sasori shrugged.

"Fine by me. Won't be long before the brat blows himself up, anyway."

Konan frowned, but decided to leave the conversation be. She turned, and was about to leave the cave when she did a double take, looking back towards Itachi.

"Itachi-san?" she asked. He looked up at her, face void of any expression at all.

"Yes?"

"Would you mind stepping outside? I'd like to talk with you."

Itachi nodded once, and pushed himself to his feet.

"Not at all."

The two stepped outside the cave, into the dark.

The night welcomed them warmly, wrapping itself around the two as it enveloped them like a blanket. Konan blinked once or twice in the dark, the sudden change in lighting made it hard for her eyes to adjust. Even Itachi, whose eyes were normally more than exceptional, had a slightly hard time adjusting to the new lighting. He felt the ever so slow side effects of the mangekyou sharringan taking their toll on his eyes as time dragged by. At the moment though, he had no time to worry about such a subject, for Konan had already begun speaking.

"So what happened?" she asked.

Itachi looked up, puzzled. "Well, he resisted slightly, but eventually we were able to 'convince' him into—"

"Not with Deidara." Konan cut him off, holding up a hand to his face in an obvious gesture to stop talking. She paused slightly as her hand slowly sunk back to her side. "I meant with Meri. I haven't talked to you since you were recruited. Before that, it was on her birthday, four years ago."

"Oh." Itachi said, unsure of why Konan was bringing up such an old topic. "I see…well…I assume she had the child."

A blank look overcame Konan's face, stunned disbelief

"You were supposed to kill her Itachi. You cannot merely 'assume.' Are you trying to tell me that in all of these years, you never once bothered to find out what happened?"

For some reason, Konan's calm air seemed to annoy him. Although Itachi was the exact same, always calm and never talkative, it seemed to bother him that Konan was so similar.

"It is a thing of the past. Meri and the child matter not."

Konan shook her head as well.

"For someone so infamous, you truly are stupid. I cannot believe you do not have the mental capability to grasp such a simple topic. You, Itachi Uchiha, were supposed to wipe out the entire Uchiha clan. But you didn't. Of course, everyone knows Sasuke lives, but what would happen if they found out there was another descendent of the Uchiha living in secret amongst them? Pure pandemonium. You don't know what happened to Meri – she could have let something slip."

Itachi felt suddenly blindsided. How could this not have occurred to him? He certainly felt stupid now, angry with himself for allowing such a thing to happen.

"Well…wait—" he paused as something dawned on him. "Sahiro? Whatever became of him?"

"He's dead." Konan said flatly.

Itachi didn't know exactly how to respond. He knew they were married, so…

"I'm sorry."

Konan looked up, startled.

"Oh no. I killed him."

Itachi nodded, brow furrowed in thought.

"What exactly is the story behind Sahiro, anyway?"

Konan smirked, amused by Itachi's strange curiosity. She decided to speak up, anyway.

"I was on a mission in Sunagakure, where the one-tailed jinchuuriki, Gaara, had just been born. Obviously, he was my mission. But while I was there, I met Sahiro. He was young, as was I, he was sweet and kind. Leader-sama had always warned me not to let my emotions get in the way of my mission, but at the time, I was sick of leader-sama telling me what to do, acting like an overly-strict father. I perfectly fit the stereotype of a typical teenager. Thinking I was in love, Sahiro and I eloped and ran away to Konoha. I kept this from leader, telling him that I was moving on to the nine-tailed boy instead. But, while I was in Konoha, I discovered someone much more interesting…"

She paused, smirking at Itachi. He could only guess what.

"I began to study the Uchiha clan." Konan continued. "And others, but mostly yours. I had heard tales, but never experienced such a power in person. It didn't take me long to figure out that you were truly the most powerful clan in existence, and that of the Uchihas, you were the most powerful in the clan. I attempted to recruit you to Akatsuki, and here we are. Thanks to Sahiro for bringing me to Konoha, I suppose. He proved useful for _something_ after all. As for him, we lived a normal life, I suppose. After a while, I realized I wasn't in love with him, but continued to use him for this matter and that. Then, after you killed your clan and I left, Sahiro came looking for me, and Meri let something slip about our marriage. Of course, I knew that if the rumor was widely spread, leader-sama would find out, and God only knows what would happen. So, I went back to Konoha a few months later, and killed him."

Itachi listened intensely as she spoke, voicing his own opinion only a second after she had finished.

"That makes perfect sense."

Konan didn't seem to be listening. She stared out at the night sky, absorbed in her own thoughts. Itachi let her be for a minute or two, before she suddenly turned to Itachi again.

"That was four years ago. I erased my tracks completely, now nobody remembers me. You should do the same thing, Itachi, erase all of your past, get rid of the things that might come back to haunt you."

Itachi nodded once.

"I plan on it."

X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X—X

Konoha looked exactly the same way it had when Itachi left. The streets, buildings, houses, forests, etc., nothing had changed at all. He strolled leisurely down the streets in disguise as a dark-haired, pale young teenager, glancing in shop windows and simply taking in a great feel of every inch of Konoha.

Itachi knew he had to start looking for Meri, and kill her and the child. At the moment, it did not bother him. But when he came face to face with Meri, he knew that somewhere inside of him, a small, past emotion might stir up. He wondered what she looked like now. Still younger than her age, no doubt. And what of the child? Was it a boy? Perhaps a girl? Had it inherited any of Itachi's traits, or looks, or –

For a moment, he paused. What would it be like, living with Meri and raising a child? Itachi had a sudden image of his older self in a messy, cramped kitchen while a small young boy and Meri, expecting again, sat at the kitchen table that was originally made to seat only two people. He pictured himself making a meal, sliding a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in front of the boy, as a normal father should. He imagined the boy being whiney and complaining about not liking peanut butter, and himself having to take it back and start all over again, mumbling as he did so.

Itachi abruptly stopped walking, squeezing his eyes shut.

_Stop. It matters not what the child looks like. Tomorrow, it will not exist._

And, as an afterthought,

_And that's absurd. What child does not like peanut butter?_

With this new thought in his head, he slowly slid his eyes open and began walking once more, debating on where to begin his search for Meri.

There _was_ a small thought in the back of his head. It was tiny, insignificant, unlikely to be true. Yet Itachi could not completely suppress it.

The chances of maternal death during childbirth were very, very low. But Meri was young, and extremely small. He remembered Sahiro mentioning something about the pregnancy not going well.

Ah, the chances were far too small. She had survived.

…but it wouldn't hurt to check.

And it wouldn't take any time at all. He was just about two blocks away from it now, it would only take a few minutes. So, Itachi set off in the direction of the cemetery.

The moment he arrived, he unlatched the small black gate, stepped inside, and closed it behind him. He took one more step forward and looked around.

A small area of forest green grass lay before him, a large welcoming carpet of earth. Magnolia trees grew on all sides of him, their limbs growing and twisting playfully around the shoulder-height black fence. The flowers, only partially in bloom, cast down speckles of darkness. They covered most of the ground in shadows, allowing only the smallest beams of sunlight to penetrate their shade. It certainly wasn't a very large cemetery. He remembered it being larger, more…significant. Ah, he supposed he had just grown.

The size of the cemetery would make it easy for Itachi to find a headstone that may or may not be there. He walked up and down each row with great caution and little speed, his eyes flickering from one tombstone to another as he scanned over names. He was nearing the end of the rows, almost towards the end, when a sudden jolt shot through his spine.

_My God._

There it was.

He couldn't believe it.

But _there it was._

A small, warmly colored gray tombstone in the shape of a small rectangle stood before him.

_My…my God!_

Relief washed over Itachi's body. This made things so much less complicated. Oh thank goodness she was dead. Itachi just snared a few more hours of his life back.

Quickly, his vision darted to the left and right of the tombstone.

To the left, there was nothing but a black fence. He apparently had ended up in the corner. To the right, an identical stone with the words Jairo Sahiro Umeko carved into them, sat as still and warmly colored as Meri's.

_Jairo._ He thought, more relief occurring. _What an unusual name._

Well. It didn't matter. They were dead. Itachi could return to the hideout. He turned away from the tombstones and –

_What…?_

Something happened. Something inside of Itachi shifted. He was…feeling…something. Some strange emotion had taken hold of his mind and refused to let go. He slowly turned back around and looked at the grave.

Shame, perhaps?

He remembered Meri…her beautiful face, her warm smile that lit up any room. She was such a lively, exciting, happy person.

And now, she was gone. Forever. Her voice would sound never again.

He remembered not only her looks and her personality, but how he was too. When he was around Meri, he loosened up, felt free, away from the pressures of being an Uchiha. He remembered how much he loved her.

That thought seemed to stop Itachi in his tracks.

_Did I really love her?_

Maybe he just hadn't gotten laid in a while and took it to far.

_That was crude._ He thought, wincing at himself.

No, it was something more. Working hard to please everybody, every day, living up to your reputation, being the perfect little child that was universally loved…it was hard. Pressure had gotten to Itachi, and he needed a way to relieve it, to rebel. And, as a teenager at the time, a forbidden romance seemed just the way to go.

"_I perfectly fit the stereotype of a typical teenager."_

Konan's words rang clearly in his head.

That had to be it. Itachi was not in love, no, not at all. He needed to rebel against…against…everything! His family, Meri's family, the Uchihas, practically all of society. Meri was an escape to him, someone who he could be different around and not have to fear anything odd coming of it.

That was it. He wasn't in love. He just needed an excuse to get away. Meri was that excuse.

Itachi ripped his gaze away from Meri's grave and turned. He walked away, through the rows of headstones and towards the exit. The moment he laid his hand on the cool metal of the gate, something else came into his attention.

Something hot and wet was sliding down the side of his face. He lifted up a finger and wiped it away.

_A tear._

Itachi blinked in shock, and as he did, two more fell. Just as he did to the first, he wiped them away in haste. But then three more, then five, seven, soon they became countless. Itachi gave up and let them flow in a steady stream down his cheeks.

Then, one landed harshly on his shoulder.

But that couldn't have been a tear.

Another, on his shoulder. Then three hard taps on his head. There was a sudden clap of thunder from above, and in less than a moment, the sky was crying with him. The roar of the rain seemed soft, a murmur. He stood there, allowing the harsh, cool rain to plummet from the sky and hit him like bullets, on the back, shoulders, his head, and mostly his face. They blended in with Itachi's tears, camouflaging them as though they weren't there in the first place.

He turned back towards Meri's grave once more.

They were not in love. There was no possible way.

Although it was raining, tears still flowed down his face. Itachi could feel them.

No 'romance' existed between the two of them.

The word 'romance' was idiotic.

After all, Itachi Uchiha did not believe in such things.


End file.
